The Treasured Chamber of Secrets
by QuestForMyOwnMagic
Summary: Cassie is back for her second year at Hogwarts! Harry is safe, Ron is always by his side, and Hermione is buried in her books... When she's not obsessing over the new DADA professor. However, danger is lurking the corridors of Hogwarts again. Will Cassie get to Ginny in time? *Second in the Treasured Series*
1. Preview

Preview

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"I was worried." I said as I sat on the bed with Harry in Ron's room.

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"It's okay to have a crush on me. I have a crush on you." He stared at me.

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"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudbloods." Malfoy spat out.

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"I never touched Mrs. Norris!" Harry defended himself.

"I was trying to get her off!" I defended myself as well.

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I stared at the parchment, unsure of how I was going to write this letter to my supposed father.

...

"Do it Harry!" I shouted as I held my shoulder, blood coming out of the wound.

...

 **Hello! Welcome to the second installment of the Treasured Series! I do hope you enjoyed this teaser, as the story will be coming out soon. No not next week, I just wanted to let you guys get excited over what's to come.**

 **Thank you to HigherAngel for adding me to your Author Alert list! I hope I don't disappoint!**

 **Thank you to 96a.b96 for adding the Treasured Philosopher's Stone to your favorites!**

 **Thank you to Shannon999 for following the Treasured Philosopher's Stone!**

 **Thank you to fern1968 for favoriting the Treasured Philosopher's Stone!**

 **Thank you to 2takuya for following me and for reviewing the Treasured Philosopher's Stone!**

 **I'm so glad you reviewed! You didn't ask, but I was reading an interview between a musical group and whoever was interviewing them. They were asked why they got back together and the lead singer answered, "No one was making the music we wanted to listen to, so we're making it." And that hit me, so I applied it to writing. I wasn't finding what I wanted to read, so I'm writing it myself. It also sounds like you have figured out who her father is. Shhh! The BIG REVEAL will be coming sooner than you expect!**

 **Thank you to katie owl for reviewing the last chapter of the Treasured Philosopher's Stone!**

 **Don't worry, I'll get you the first chapter real soon!**

 **For everyone else! Just a forewarning. This book and any future books will have 'bonus chapters' and those are going to be certain events through another person's perspective. So I will write everything from Cassie's point of view, and certain events will be told through another character's eyes for you to get what happened on both ends.**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

I was sitting on my bed and staring at my arm. I had scarred it trying to get to a friend just a few weeks ago. The black flames were still hot to the touch, but it was healed enough that I could change it to match my normal skin color.

 _'It's a shame. I really do like that scar.'_ I sighed as I let my back drop down on my bed.

The motion disturbed my Turkish Van, Ariel, who growled at me.

"Sorry girl." I put my hand up to scratch her cheek.

When Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I went to find the Sorcerer's Stone and get it away from Voldemort, there were several trials we had to get through. Ron had been stuck staying behind after being knocked out by a giant chess piece. So only Harry could go through the enchanted fire to get to the Stone, I chose for Hermione to go back. And I don't know what happened to Harry, but when I heard him shouting I tried to push through the enchanted flames. Only… They were cursed black flames and now I have the scar to always remember it.

And for Snape to remember it too. He was the one who put that trial into place. And I was the idiot who tried to push through without knowing the full extent of that room. He wouldn't look at at me the rest of the year when he saw my arm was bandaged, so I'm hoping that if he doesn't see it… Well here's to hoping.

There was a tap at my window and I sat up in hopes it was Hedwig. It was Errol, but I still had the same excitement in my chest when I opened the window to let him. Mrs. Weasley and I had been writing letters to each other, along with Hermione and Ron. Harry… Harry hadn't written back, even when I sent him a birthday card just last week. I was worried about him.

Mrs. Weasley was just letting me know that she was going to pick me up the next morning and I had to let Charlotte know to keep the room with the fireplace clear of any wandering eyes. I kept Errol in my room and closed the door so no one would go in it.

I found Charlotte making dinner in the kitchen.

"Charlotte, Mrs. Weasley is coming to get me. She said to keep the room with the fireplace clear at five o'clock." I told the woman who had looked after me for twelve years.

"In the morning?" She looked at the time to see it was a quarter to five.

"Yes." I double checked the letter.

"Okay, better have your stuff packed." Charlotte smiled to me.

"Would you like help setting the table?" I asked, already grabbing a washcloth to wipe down the table.

"That would be lovely." Charlotte nodded.

I put ten spots at the table. We had gained some new faces while I was gone and one of them was going to be adopted out within the next week. It's always nice when one of us gets adopted, I was always disappointed when I wouldn't be considered but now that I know what I am.

"Cassie, you better get to bed. You have to be up early in the morning." Charlotte told me as we finished clearing the table.

"Do you need anymore help? Dishes put away? Anything cleaned up?" I asked.

"No, but thank you. Go finish packing and get some rest." Charlotte smiled at me.

Her blonde hair had started to dull over the years. I think that because I've been gone I'm finally noticing all the little changes.

"Okay, thank you." I smiled back and went upstairs.

Errol was sleeping with his head under his wing. His cooing was adorable as he snored.

"Alright Ariel, I don't know how we're going to get to the Burrow. I better get your cage ready." I said as I prepared her pet carrier I had gotten from last year.

She had grown some over the last couple months, but I think I could get another year out of the carrier before having to get a new one. I finished packing all of my clothes I would need for the school year in the trunk Charlotte had given me my first year. I wanted to get a second bag, a purse really, before the start of the term since I've started to become a mature woman.

Once I was done packing I laid on the bed and practiced changing my arm from what I wanted the world to see, to what was actually underneath. It was still painful to change but I was slowly getting use to pain. My arm was in a constant state of burning. The burn had lessened over the course of the weeks, but if you didn't know what had happened you would ask why one arm is hotter than the other.

I didn't realize I had fallen asleep when Charlotte came and woke me up. I sat up and tried to clear the sleep out of my eyes. When I looked at the time it was five ten.

"Oh no! I'm sorry." I whispered as I put Ariel in her carrier.

"Don't worry about it sweetie." Charlotte whispered back.

I carried my pet carrier and helped Charlotte with my trunk downstairs, she had a cage Errol was put in when she came to get me.

"Hello Mrs. Weasley!" I greeted the woman quietly.

"Hello dear!" Mrs. Weasley gave me a warm hug.

She tutted when she felt my left arm and gave me a look that I avoided.

"Here is Errol." Charlotte handed Errol to Mrs. Weasley.

"Thank you. Now Cassie, this will be strange for you, but we're going to travel by floo powder." Mrs. Weasley turned to me as Charlotte pulled down an urn from the mantle of the fireplace.

"Floo powder?" I asked.

"Yes, it's a way to get through the fireplaces." She nodded to me.

"Oh boy." I said as I looked at Ariel.

"She'll be fine. It's perfectly safe."

"Okay…" I was hesitant as I watched her put my trunk in the fireplace.

"I'm so sorry dear but we do have to get going. The boys were not in their beds when I left." She actually sounded worried.

"Of course." I gave a quick hug to Charlotte and a promise to write soon.

"Take care dear." Charlotte said as I took a pinch of the powder.

"Say, 'The Burrow' very clearly." Mrs. Weasley instructed.

I cleared my throat, "The Burrow!"

I was engulfed in green flames and landed in a strange house. I quickly put Ariel down on the ground and she did not look good. She was fluffed up and breathing with her mouth open. I got my trunk out of the fireplace and just in time too. Mrs Weasley appeared in a flash of green flames with Errol.

"Alright dear. Let's get you settled." She put the cage down and let Errol out.

"Would you like to try to find your boys?" I asked as the sky started to pink.

Before she could answer we heard a car driving up.

"No, I know where they are." She shook her head and I followed her out of the living room, through the kitchen, and out to the yard.

Fred, George, Ron, and Harry were getting out of a car. Ron saw us first and he turned green, then the twins noticed us. And I watched Mrs. Weasley get angry with the way she stomped her way to her kids.

 _"So."_ Mrs. Weasley whispered.

"Morning mum." George was the first to speak.

"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" Mrs. Weasley whispered got deadlier than I imagined it could.

"Sorry mum, but see, we had too -" Ron spoke up.

 _"Beds empty! No note! Car gone - could have crashed - out of my mind with worry - I went and got Cassie - did you care? Never, as long as I have lived - you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy -"_

I flinched when Percy was brought up.

"Perfect Percy." Fred muttered to his twin.

"YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!" Mrs. Weasley poked Fred's chest.

I was confused. Why would a mother want all of her children to be alike? Percy was boring, George and Fred loved to live life on the edge and they were good! They knew when to step in and take care of their younger brother, and even though Percy was annoying, they still tried to include him on things when they saw him.

I was frowning by the time Mrs. Weasley had finally stopped lecturing the boys about how their father could have been fired and turned to Harry. I didn't notice them walking by me until Harry gave me a hug to pull me out of my thoughts.

"How's your arm?" He whispered in my ear.

"I'll tell you later." I whispered back as I pulled back.

Ron and I did a handshake since he wasn't feeling like a hug.

"Princess Cassie!" Fred bowed to me.

"Prince Fred!" I curtsied to him.

"Your Majesty!" George curtsied to me.

"Your Highness." I bowed to him.

We all laughed as we turned to walk into the Burrow. George put an arm around my shoulders and I wrapped my right arm around his back. Mrs. Weasley was shaking her head at the three of us as we entered the kitchen. I let George go and he and the rest of the boys sat down at the table.

"Cassie are you hungry?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"I am, I just want to check on Ariel." I answered as I made way into the living room.

I bent down to look at her cage and Ariel was no longer fluffed up, but she was still breathing heavy and her eyes were wide.

"Mrs. Weasley, can I put Ariel somewhere not so spacious?" I asked as I grabbed her blanket out of my trunk and covered her cage up.

"In a moment, Ginny is still asleep." She said as I walked into the kitchen and sat between and Harry and Ron.

Harry took the opportunity to put his hand on my arm. I hissed at the pressure and shooed his hand away.

"Cassie, where is your scar?" Ron asked.

"Scar?" Fred, George and Mrs. Weasley turned to me.

"Thanks Ronald." I glared at the boy.

"Sorry." He mumbled as he took a bite of sausage.

I focused on my arm and released the magic holding the pigment I wanted. The black flames were slowly revealed as I twitched my eye at the pain.

"Cassie!" Mrs. Weasley gasped and started making an ice pack.

"That's wicked!" George and Fred said together.

Harry gently took my hand and when I looked at him, he had sadness in his features.

"Harry Potter. I told you not to feel sorry for me." I poked his forehead.

"I know, and I don't feel sorry for _you_. I feel sorry that you were in that situation." He rubbed his forehead.

"What happened to you dear?" Mrs. Weasley wrapped my arm in a cold towel with some ice in it.

I sighed in relief, "ummm Snape cursed some black flames guarding the Sorcerer's Stone and I tried to go through them?"

"Merlin's beard." Mrs. Weasley put a hand to her chest and her eyes started to water.

"It's okay! I swear! I'm fine! I've been practicing changing it so that no one else knows about it. It's our secret." I quickly explained as Harry put some sausages on my plate so that I could eat.

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she scooped some eggs and buttered toast on my plate as well.

"I am. Thank you for caring though Mrs. Weasley." I nodded as George reached over and poked my wrist.

"Ow! Don't touch it!" I snapped at him.

"Sorry!" He was quick to flinch away.

"It just burns. It feels like my arm is still in that fire." I explained as I took a bite of sausage.

Mrs. Weasley shook her head with a sigh, "what was that man thinking?"

"He was thinking that a grown man would get the Sorcerer's Stone from Hogwarts to use it for evil purposes. He put the curse on the flames to prevent the man from going forward without drinking the potion to make it safely through. Why on Earth would a twelve year old go through the flames?" I snapped at her.

She pursed her lips at me but didn't say anything else about my arm. Instead she started muttering about the boys and their stunt with the car.

"Of course I don't blame _you_ dear." Mrs. Weasley told Harry as he got more food on his plate.

"Arthur and I have been worried about you, too. Just last night we were saying we'd come and get you ourselves if you hadn't written back to Ron Friday. But really, flying an illegal car halfway across the country - anyone could have seen you -" Mrs Weasley put the dishes in the sink and they started to clean themselves with a wave of her wand.

"It was _cloudy_ mum!" Fred tried to defend themselves.

"You keep your mouth closed while you're eating!" Mrs. Weasley pointed a finger at him.

"They were starving him, mum!" George spoke up this time.

I turned my head sharply to Harry and put a one of my sausages on his plate.

"And you!" Mrs. Weasley pointed a finger to George, but her demeanor was softer after George said that.

There was a small red head who came down the stairs.

"Ginny!" I smiled happily.

She didn't see me. She took one look at Harry, squealed in delight, and ran back up the stairs.

"She's been talking about you all summer." Ron muttered to us.

"Yeah, she'll be wanting your autograph Harry." Fred grinned up to Harry.

Mrs. Weasley glared at him and he bent his head over his plate and didn't look back up until it was cleaned.

"I am tired." Fred yawned, "I think I'll go off to bed and -"

"You will not," Mrs. Weasley snapped as she stood up and started to gather the dishes.

"It's your own fault you've been up all night. You're going to de-gnome the garden for me: they're getting completely out of hand again -"

"Oh mum -" Fred rolled his eyes.

I tried to stifle my giggle behind my hand and I turned into Harry's shoulder.

"And you two," she turned her glare to Ron and George who were quick to sit up straight.

"You can go up to bed, darlings." Mrs. Weasley turned to Harry and I.

"You didn't ask them to fly that wretched car -"

"I'll help Ron. I've never seen a de-gnoming -" Harry was quick to answer.

"I need to get Ariel settled, she's still shocked from the trip." I wasn't sure I wanted to be part of the boys chore.

"That's very sweet of you dear, but it's dull work." Mrs. Weasley said as she walked over to a bookcase.

"And once I see what Lockhart's has to say about the subject, we'll take care of Ariel." Mrs. Weasley told me.

"We know how to de-gnome a garden -" George groaned.

The book Mrs. Weasley had grabbed had a giant photograph of a blonde hair, blue eye wizard. He kept winking at anyone who would look at him, I wasn't impressed at all by him.

"Oh he is marvelous." Mrs. Weasley beamed down at the picture on the book, "he knows his household pets. It's a wonderful book."

I don't know who she was trying to convince, but I wasn't convinced that's for sure.

"Mum _fancies_ him." Fred whispered to Harry and I as he started to slowly walk towards to the stairs.

"Don't be ridiculous Fred. If you think you know better than Lockhart, you can go and get on with it, and woe betide you if there's a single gnome in that garden when I come out to inspect it." Mrs. Weasley's cheeks were rather pink.

I waved to the boys as they left the kitchen slouched, Harry was the only one who seemed to be wide awake and ready for the task at hand. I stayed sitting and rubbed my arm, the ice pack Mrs. Weasley had made was already room temperature. I had packed the healing salve from Madam Promfrey but I was almost out of it. I would need to find a new way to keep my arm cool.

"Alright dearie, let's go take care of Ariel." Mrs. Weasley stood up and walked to the living room.

I carefully picked up my arm off the table and left the ice pack where it was. Mrs. Weasley grabbed my trunk and started to pull it up the stairs. I grabbed Ariel's cage, who hissed when it was disturbed but I made a comforting shushing sound and she quieted right down. I picked up the other end of the trunk and helped Mrs. Weasley up the stairs with it. We climbed up three landing's before we made it to a room that was labeled _'Ginevra's Room'_.

 _'This must be Ginny's room.'_ I thought to myself as Mrs. Weasley knocked on the door.

Ginny opened it and her eyes widened when she saw me.

"Cassie!" She opened the door wider to let us in.

"Good morning." I laughed at the girl.

"When did you get here?" She was bouncing in the corner of her room.

Mrs. Weasley put my trunk down and pushed it under the bed that looked freshly made. Ginny's room was big enough that we fit, but I assumed it was that enlarging charm that I was eager to learn. Ginny had the four walls a room usually has, and against one was her bed and a dresser. Another wall was empty except for some posters of a Quidditch team. And the third wall had the bed I was going to be using pushed against it. The door to get out of the room and a door I believed her was closet was on the fourth wall.

"About ten minutes before Harry did." I watched her face brighten and then turn red.

I laughed as I put Ariel's cage on the bed. I pulled out my trunk and pulled out a shirt that I knew smelt like me. I laid it down against the pillow and pulled off the blanket to Ariel's cage. She had her mouth slightly opened but she was looking around the room and acting a bit normal.

"Easy girl." I opened the cage and put my hand just out of her reach.

If Ariel wanted to be petted she was going to have to come to me. She sniffed at my hand and just looked around the room.

"Is she okay?" Ginny asked, sitting on her bed.

"I believe so, just shocked from the floo travel." I pulled away from her and sat on the floor against the bed frame.

"Was it her first time?" Ginny asked.

"And mine. I didn't care for it either." I shrugged my shoulders.

"Have you never traveled by floo before?"

"Nope. I live in a house with muggles at the moment." I explained.

"Is it strange?" Ginny went to her dresser and pulled out some clothes.

"No, I'm used to it." I turned to my head to give her some privacy.

"I don't think I could live with muggles." She admitted from the other side of the room.

"I don't mind it so much. I just wish I had people to call my family." I didn't mean to say it out loud, but now it was out there.

"I'm sure my mum wouldn't mind having another daughter." Ginny actually sounded excited at the prospect of having a sister.

"With how many boys she has, I'm sure she's ready for more." I laughed.

Ginny laughed with me too as we talked all morning. I heard Harry and Ron coming up the stairs, Ginny stood up and opened the door a crack. As soon as Harry passed by she clicked the door shut and her face was a bright red.

"Do you have a crush on him?" I teased.

"He Is The Boy Who Lived!" She whispered to me.

"So you like him because he's a celebrity?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

"I - I - I mean… He's cute?" She said it more as a question than a statement.

I laughed as I stood up, "I'm going to go check on them, I will be right back." I promised as I left her room.

I walked up the next flight of stairs, I walked by _'Percival's Room'_ and a bathroom which I was grateful to find. After the next set of stairs, I came across _'Ronald's Room.'_ I gave it a knock and Ron said to come in.

I opened the door and was met with bright orange. I flinched for a second and then blinked a couple of times to see all the orange was just a Quidditch team color.

"Cassie, how are you doing?" Harry made room on the bed he was on for me to sit.

"I'm doing good! What happened? I sent letters and I was worried." I sat next to him.

"Oh you're not going to believe him." Ron laid down on his bed and looked up to the ceiling.

I crossed my legs and sat facing Harry, who told me about a creature called a house-elf named Dobby who tried to stop him from coming to Hogwarts.

"What could possibly be happening at Hogwarts, that is dangerous?" I asked at the end of the story.

"I haven't a clue, but a house-elf isn't going to stop me from going home." Harry said.

"That's the spirit!" I put my hand into a fist and nudged Harry's arm.

"How was your summer?" Harry asked me and Ron sat up.

"It was boring. It's hard to plan a vacation with a bunch of kids who are still transitioning into the house, or are being adopted out." I explained.

"I forget you live in an orphanage." Ron admitted, his ears turning pink.

"It's alright." I shrugged.

* * *

The next week was possibly the best week. Ginny and I were able to have some girl talk, she talked about Harry and I talked about the rest of the boys. She was going to Hogwarts this year and I was so excited to be able to see her rather than just write letters to her.

The boys would go flying most of the time, I would sometimes join and we would take turns racing on mine and Harry's brooms. They wouldn't let Ginny join us, so at night when everyone was asleep we would sneak out and take out Harry's broom and mine. She would ride mine and I would ride Harry's.

Harry knew I was riding it, he didn't ask me why or when. I appreciated that a lot. It was one of the things Ginny enjoyed and I believed she could be an excellent quidditch player from what I saw in her flying abilities.

On Monday, I went down with Ginny and Mr. Weasley handed me a letter.

"Dumbledore must have known you and Harry were here." He said with a smile.

"Thank you!" I grinned as I took a look at what I needed.

Harry and Ron came down at that moment and also got their letters. The initial letter told us not to miss the Hogwarts Express on at King's Cross Station on September first. The book list… Was unusual

 _'Second-year students will require:_

 _ **The Standard book of Spells, Grade 2** by Miranda Goshawk_

 _ **Break with a Banshee** by Gilderoy Lockhart_

 _ **Gadding with Ghouls** by Gilderoy Lockhart_

 _ **Holidays with Hags** by Gilderoy Lockhart_

 _ **Travels with Trolls** by Gilderoy Lockhart_

 _ **Voyages with Vampires** by Gilderoy Lockhart_

 _ **Wanderings with Werewolves** by Gilderoy Lockhart_

 _ **Year with the Yeti** by Gilderoy Lockhart'_

"Now that's just ridiculous." I said as soon as I put my letter down.

"You've been told to get Lockhart's books too. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a fan - bet it's a witch." Fred said when he saw my list.

"Bet it's him." I grumbled under my breath.

"I'll wager that." George laughed.

We all quieted down when we caught Mrs. Weasley's glare.

"That lot won't come cheap," George gave a quick look to his parents when he realized everyone's list had the same thing. "Lockhart's books are really expensive…"

I shrank my shoulders into myself and I saw Harry do the same thing. I had a vault full of gold that I wanted to offer it to them, but I didn't want to embarrass the family that took me in for the rest of the summer.

"We'll manage, I expect we'll be able to pick up a lot of Ginny's things secondhand." Mrs. Weasley said.

I internally groaned when Ginny was mentioned, I had been ignoring her all morning but anytime Harry came in the room, looked at her, or even breathed she had to do something to embarrass herself.

"Oh, are you going to Hogwarts this year?" Harry turned to the girl.

Ginny's face had turned as red as her hair and she nodded. How she managed to put her elbow in the butter dish I will never know. But thankfully Percy came down the stairs so no one noticed. Percy had on his Prefect badge pinned to his sweater vest. I rolled my eyes with George and Fred who started to angrily eat their toast.

"Morning all. Lovely day." Percy greeted.

He went to sit down in the remaining chair and leapt up immediately. He pulled a moulting Errol out from underneath him.

"Errol!" Ron stood up and took the poor thing from Percy.

" _Finally_ \- he's got Hermione's answer. I wrote to her saying we were going to try and rescue you from the Dursleys." Ron explained as he carried Errol to a perch.

Ron tried to put Errol on the perch, but the gray owl just fell straight off so Ron just laid him on the draining board instead.

"Pathetic." Ron shook his head then opened the letter.

 _" 'Dear Ron and Harry, if you're there._

 _I hope everything went alright and that Harry is okay and that you didn't do anything illegal to get him out, Ron, because that would get Harry into trouble too. I've been really worried and if Harry is all right, will you please let me know at once, but perhaps it would be better if you used a different owl, because I think another delivery might finish your one off._

 _I'm very busy with schoolwork, of course_ \- How can she be?" Ron looked at us in horror. "We're on vacation! - _'and we're going to London next Wednesday to buy my new books. Why don't we meet in Diagon Alley?_

 _By the way, have you heard from Cassie? I wrote her a letter through the muggle post and it was sent back to me a couple days ago. I hope she's okay as well._

 _Let me know what's happening as soon as you can. Love from Hermione.'"_

"Uh oh." I said.

"Well, that fits in nicely, we can go and get all your things then, too. And you might want to write to her that Cassie is here, we don't want her worrying anymore than she has too." Mrs. Weasley started to clear the table.

"What're you all up to today?" Mr. Weasley asked.

The boys were planning on playing Quidditch up in the small paddock the Weasley's owned, I was invited and the only reason why I was there was because Ginny made me promise we would go out that night together.

So I was currently racing Ron on the Nimbus 2000's. We were all taking turns until Harry and I got to practicing my Seeker skills. I was told by Fred that I had improved but I wasn't sure. I wanted Wood to see what I could do now before I got too confident.

I was on Ron's Shooting Star making lazy corkscrews and just hanging upside down on it.

"Wish I knew what he was up to," Fred was frowning as we flew around, "Percy's not himself. His exam results came the day before you did; twelve O.W.L.s and he hardly gloated at all."

I flew up to Ron and Harry to join the circle.

"Ordinary Wizarding Levels," George explained when I opened my mouth. "Bill got twelve, too. If we're not careful we'll have another Head Boy in the family. I don't think I could stand the shame."

"Percy has a stick up his arse. Whatever he's got going on I don't want to know." I shrugged.

All the boys started to laugh at my choice of words and we started to fly around again. I chose to hang upside down and George flew next to me so that our heads were near each other so that we could talk.

"Dunno how mum and dad are going to afford all our school stuff this year," George said to me quietly. "Five sets of Lockhart book! And Ginny needs robes and a wand and everything…"

"Would Mrs. Weasley be offended if I offered my robes to Ginny? I believe they'll fit her, I've grown some since I last wore them." I turned the broom so I was right side up and George and I just flew in a lazy circle.

"I don't think so. She would probably appreciate it." George didn't know if he was sure.

"I'll ask before I do anything." I promised.

* * *

That night after dinner, everyone had gone off to bed and Mrs Weasley was sitting by the fire. She was rocking in her chair while the needles I had given her for Christmas the year before were magically making a sweater from the looks of it.

"Mrs. Weasley?" I stood by the staircase, looking up to make sure Ginny couldn't hear us.

"Yes Cassie?" Mrs. Weasley looked up from her book she was reading.

"I don't want to offend you, but I have my robes from last year and they no longer fit me. Would you like them for Ginny?" I shuffled on my feet, uncomfortable with the situation I had put myself in.

"Are you sure?" She asked after a moment's pause.

"Yes. I don't want to keep them since I have nowhere to put them, and I don't need to sell them if I don't have too." I explained.

"I'm sure Ginny would love them." Mrs. Weasley smiled kindly at me.

"I hope so." I smiled back in relief.

"She sees you as a sister you know." She mentioned softly.

"I see her as one too." I took a step up the stairs.

"That's good. I want to have another daughter, but I'm afraid I can't anymore." Mrs. Weasley said sadly.

I paused on my step and leaned against the rail.

"There's nothing wrong with that. Look at how many daughter-in-laws you'll get instead." Mrs. Weasley chuckled at my comment.

"I understand that there's a difference between having something that you make yours, and something that is given to you and is now yours. But this way you'll get to see how many other wonderful daughters are out there that are going to love you as their second mother." I explained, my heart filling up my throat.

Mrs. Weasley looked up at me suspiciously, "are you alright dear?"

"No. But I will be." I was honest.

"How is your arm?" She changed the subject which I was grateful for.

"It still a little hot, but I'm used to it." I shrugged.

"And how is Ariel?" Mrs. Weasley asked before I could take another step up.

"She's doing better, I don't think she likes traveling by floo powder." I giggled.

Mrs. Weasley laughed as well, "and that's understandable."

"Good night Mrs. Weasley." I said.

"Good night Cassie." She said to me and turned back to her book.

* * *

On Wednesday I was woken up by an excited Ginny.

"We're going to Diagon Alley today!" She pushed on my stomach.

"Oof!" I sat up and laughed at the girl.

"Let's get dressed and see when we're leaving." I shook my head as I stood up.

She nodded with a quiet squeal and started to pull out clothes. I quickly got out of my pajamas and put on a pair of denim trousers and a plain blue shirt. I was grateful that wizards believed in deodorant because I put some of that under my armpits as well.

I was lacing up my shoes when Ginny finally came out of her closet with a light green sweater on a denim trousers as well. I nodded to her outfit in approval and she grinned as we walked down the stairs.

Mrs. Weasley had made bacon sandwiches for breakfast and Harry was looking like he was going to throw up from eating so much food. I giggled as I sat next to him and started to eat off his plate to help him out.

When breakfast was over we put on our coats and gathered around the kitchen's fireplace.

"We're running low, Arthur." Mrs. Weasley sighed, "We'll have to buy some more today… Ah well, guests first. After you, Harry dear!"

"He's never travelled by floo powder before." I quickly put a hand on Harry's arm.

"Never?" Mr. Weasley asked, "But how did you get to Diagon Alley to buy your school things last year?"

"I went on the Underground -" Harry tried to answer.

"Really?" Mr. Weasley beamed with excitement. "Were there _escapators?_ How exactly -"

"Now _now_ , Arthur." Mrs. Weasley rolled her eyes and I giggled, "Floo powder is a lot quicker dear, but goodness me, if you've never use it before-"

"He'll be alright mum," Fred took a step forward and took a pinch out of the flowerpot Mrs. Weasley was holding. "Watch us first, Harry."

He threw the powder down into the flames and they turned green. My stomach turned at the sight of them but I gave myself a shake as Fred shouted "Diagon Alley!" and vanished.

"You must speak clearly, dear." Mrs. Weasley told Harry as George and I both took pinches of the powder.

"Harry, I'll be on the other end. Okay?" I turned to him as George disappeared.

He nodded to me as he tried to listen to Ron and Mrs. Weasley.

 _'I hope he makes it through.'_ I thought to myself as I stepped into the fire.

"Diagon Alley!" I called out and got swept up in the green flames.

I was only it the flames for a second when I was pulled out at a grate. George had reached in and pulled me out, and not a moment to soon. Another man had stepped out of the grate and exited the shop we were in.

"I hate floo powder." I decided.

George laughed as he kept his arm around my shoulders, I looked up and realized just how tall he and Fred had gotten.

Mr. Weasley came through the grate with Percy right behind him and so did Ron, then Mrs. Weasley and Ginny.

"Where's Harry?" I asked, watching the grate.

"Did he not come through?" Mr. Weasley asked.

I shook my head as I looked around the shop we were in.

"We need to go find him, maybe he came out a different grate." Mrs. Weasley said as we exited the shop.

I looked around frantically for him, "boys you stick together, Ginny, Cassie - Cassie!" Mrs. Weasley shouted after me as I ran towards the end where the Leaky Cauldron was.

I looked around for Harry, where could he have come out of?

"Cassie!" I heard Hermione shout from behind me.

"Hermione!" I waved to her as she ran up to me.

"Are you alright?" She asked when came up to me, she had a man and a woman follow her.

"Harry got lost, we're trying to find him." I explained as I saw Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley split up.

"Oh no! I have to go to Gringotts, will you bring him there when you find him?" She asked.

"Yes, of course. I have to make a withdrawal." I said to her as George came up to me.

"Thank you, see you soon!" She waved as she walked away with who I think were her parents.

"Come on, Fred went down that way and I told mum I'd watch over you." George gently tugged on my hair.

"Thank you." I nodded to him and followed right behind as he lead me to where Fred was.

We looked around Diagon Alley for maybe fifteen minutes when Fred, George and I met up with Ron, Mr. Weasley, and Percy.

"We went inside all the shops on that side of the street and asked if they've seen Harry Potter. No one has seen him." I told Mr. Weasley.

"Same on that side." Ron gestured to where he had just looked.

"Look!" I pointed up to Gringotts.

Hagrid was standing over Hermione and Harry.

"Oh good!" Mr. Weasley gave a sigh of relief as we sprinted towards him.

I reached Harry first and gave him a quick hug.

"I was so worried!" I breathed in his ear before pulling away.

"Harry," Mr. Weasley panted behind me. "We hoped you'd only gone one grate too far …" He moped the balding spot he had. "Molly's frantic - she's coming now-" Mr. Weasley looked around for his wife as I gave Hermione a proper hello.

"Where did you come out?" Ron asked.

"Knockturn Alley." Hagrid answered grimly.

 _"Excellent!"_ George and Fred grinned to each other.

"We've never been allowed in." Ron was clearly envious of Harry.

"I should ruddy well think not." Hagrid growled.

Mrs. Weasley came galloping up the steps of Gringotts, her purse was swinging in one hand and Ginny was being pulled by the other.

"Oh, Harry - oh, my dear, - you could have been anywhere." She pulled out a large clothes brush and started to sweep off the extra soot Harry still had on his shoulders.

Mr. Weasley pulled out his wand, tapped Harry's glasses that I didn't know were broken, and fixed them right up.

"Well, gotta be off," Hagrid was trying to get his hand back from Mrs Weasley who was going off about how if he hadn't found Harry.

"See yer at Hogwarts!" He waved and walked into the packed street.

It was really easy to see him through the crowd, as his shoulders and head were well above everyone else's.

"Guess who I saw in Borgin and Burkes?" Harry asked us as we walked up the steps into the bank.

"Malfoy and his father." He answered himself when no one did.

"Did Lucius Malfoy buy anything?" Mr. Weasley asked sharply behind.

"No, he was selling." Harry shook his head.

"So he's worried." Mr. Weasley gave a grim nod of satisfaction. "Oh, I'd love to get Lucius Malfoy for something…"

"You be careful Arthur," Mrs. Weasley was sharp in her tone as a goblin bowed to us when we entered the bank.

I nodded my head back to the goblin and paused for second, causing Fred to nearly knock me over if he hadn't wrapped an arm around me to prevent that.

"Easy there Princess." He snickered to me.

"Sorry." I smiled sheepishly.

I missed the rest of the conversation but Mr. Weasley noticed Hermione's parents over by a desk. He walked over to them and started a conversation while I slowly lagged behind the group.

"We'll meet you back here." Ron told to Hermione as a goblin started to escort us back to the back of Gringotts.

"Excuse me?" I tapped the goblin on the shoulder.

"Yes?" He turned to me.

"Is Ragnok here today?" I asked him.

"He is." He nodded, his hairy eyebrows furrowing together.

"May I request he take me to my vault? I would like to see him again." I asked as the Weasley's climbed into the car.

"Cassie, why don't you just come with us?" Harry asked as he climbed in next to Ron.

"Um… It's hard to explain but there's something in my vault I don't want to share if I think it's there." I tried to be nice in my explanation but I think it got them curious.

"Cassie-" Mrs. Weasley started.

"I can stay with her if that's okay?" George offered.

"I guess…" I nodded as the Goblin had gone off to find Ragnok.

Fred and George got out of the cart and joined me where I was standing. I didn't want them to see how much I had in my vault…

The goblin came back, "Ragnok will be here shortly with a cart for you miss." He climbed up into the cart and started it up.

"We'll meet you back up where the Granger's are." I told Mrs. Weasley as the cart started to move.

"Okay dear!" She called out as the cart went out of sight.

"So what is in your mysterious vault." Fred had crossed his arm.

"I don't want to answer that." I told him.

"That's suspicious." George had also crossed his arms and looked at his twin.

"Very suspicious." Fred nodded.

I rolled my eyes as Ragnok came with a cart.

"Hello Cassie." He had a small twinkle in his eye when he saw me.

"Hello Ragnok!" I greeted as George got in the cart first and turned around and offered me a hand.

"To vault number four hundred and sixty-four?" He asked behind us.

"Yes sir!" I nodded as Fred climbed in behind me.

"Alright, hold on tight." Ragnok said and we began the roller coaster to my vault.

When we arrived Fred got out and gave me a helping hand, I nodded my thanks. I handed my key to Ragnok and he opened the door to reveal my fortune lining up against the walls.

"Woah." Fred said behind me.

"I didn't want any of you to see." I admitted, my hair turning a slight pink.

"Don't be embarrassed, your parents were smart in how they did this." Fred was looking around the vault as George came in.

"Woah." He said as well.

"I will be right back, there's a table in here that's enchanted. It gave me a letter and the map last year. I don't know what it will be this year." I held my hand up hoping they would stay.

Thankfully they did as I went behind a pile of galleons to find the table in it's same spot. I did a little skip in glee when I saw there was an envelope on the table.

 _'Treasure'_ it read in beautiful cursive. I put it in my bag and grabbed a handful of galleons, two handfuls of sickles, and four handfuls of knuts. I ran out to see George and Fred muttering to each other.

"I'm done!" I smiled.

"Did you find the table?" Fred asked as we exited my vault.

"I did, and it had another letter for me." I said as Ragnok closed my vault and George helped me into the cart again.

"Are you going to read it?" George asked as we sat down.

"Later, when I have some privacy. The last one was from my mother and I'm hoping this one is too. And I'd rather keep it to myself you know?" I explained as Ragnok took us back to the top.

"Yes we do." Both boys said as George put an arm around my shoulders.

We sat in a comfortable silence until we go the platform to exit. I saw the rest of the Weasley's and Harry with the Granger's. Fred helped me off the cart and I bowed my head to Ragnok.

"It was a pleasure seeing you again, Ragnok." I told the goblin.

"And a pleasure to serve you, Cassie." He nodded to me and drove the cart away.

"How do you know that goblin?" Fred asked as we walked up to our group and exited the building.

"He took me to my vault last year." I answered as we stood at the top of the steps.

Outside the steps, Percy muttered something about needing a new quill. Fred pointed to Lee Jordan who waved at us. George and Fred both tapped me on the back and took off after him.

"We'll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour to buy your school books," Mrs. Weasley called out to them as they seperated.

"And not one step down Knockturn Alley!" She called after the twins.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and I strolled off down the winding cobblestone street. Hermione and I linked arms together. We walked by an ice cream shop and Harry bought four strawberry-and-peanut-butter ice creams for each of us.

"Thank you." I took mine from Harry and happily ate it as we wandered through the streets.

We stopped in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies so that Ron could admire the Chudley Cannons robes. Hermione dragged us all into the store next to it to buy more ink and quills for the year. I asked if we could go to the Owl Emporium as I needed more cat food and litter for Ariel.

 _'I wonder if it will be alright if I get an owl?'_ I thought to myself as I walked by a beautiful barn owl who hooted as I passed.

"Do you think I would get in trouble for having an owl?" I asked Hermione.

"Why do you want an owl?" Hermione asked as she looked around the store.

"It's not fair to Hedwig to be going in four different directions by herself. And if I get an owl it'll be easier for us to send letters during the holidays. Also, if Hedwig is out delivering a letter, we have a second owl to use rather than using a school owl." I said as I looked at the barn owl outside the door.

"So why don't you get one?" I didn't realize Harry was standing behind me.

"What do I need?" I asked.

"Just a cage and some owl treats. Owls usually hunt for their food." He said as he walked out to get the barn owl off it's stand.

"I guess I'm getting an owl too." I shrugged as Harry carried him in.

"Hello." I bent down and poked my finger into the cage.

He nibbled gently on my finger and cooed up at me.

"Alright, thank you Harry." I nodded to him.

"Of course, I think Hedwig would appreciate another owl's company anyway." He smiled as we carried my purchases to the counter.

I paid for everything right there, my food and litter for Ariel were cheap. Especially since I had been buying from them for a while now, I was given a small discount for them. Barnabas, my owl, his cage, and his owl treats brought my total to seventeen galleons and fifty knuts.

"Owls are the most popular and easy to take care of. That's why he is cheaper." Ron explained as he helped carry my bags to Flourish and Blotts.

"If I gave you my money, could you buy my books for me?" I asked Harry as we set my stuff on the ground.

"Do you want to go in?" He asked as I handed him my money bag, he raised an eyebrow when I took out the envelope.

"Not with that crowd." I shook my head and sat down on the curb and opened up the small window in Barnabus' cage.

"I don't blame you." Ron sighed as he looked at the crowd forming outside of the shop.

 _' "Gilderoy Lockhart will be signing copies of his autobiography Magical Me today 12:30 PM to 4:30 PM.' "_ Harry read off a sign.

"We can actually meet him!" Hermione gave an excited squeal. "I mean, he's written almost the whole booklist!"

"Have fun, I will stay out here. Away from the fans." I rolled my eyes.

Harry sighed and the look he gave me told me he wished he was staying out with me. I had sat down on the curb as they walked into the crowded bookshop. I was scratching Barnabas head when a shadow fell over me.

"Dear child, what are you doing on the street?" A tall man with long blonde hair asked as he held a hand for me.

"I don't like crowds sir," I pulled my hand out of the cage and politely took the man's hand and stood up.

"Oh, is it Gilderoy Lockhart in there?" He sniffed in the direction of the bookshop.

"Yes sir, I didn't want to go in with all of my purchases, so I decided to wait out here. My friends are in there buying my books for me. They should be out any moment." I said as I saw a familiar face coming down the street.

"Father!" Malfoy said to the man in front of me.

"Draco! Gilderoy Lockhart is inside, how wonderful." Malfoy's father said dryly as he gestured into the shop.

 _'Oh bollocks.'_ I swore to myself.

"What are you doing in his way, Zwart?" Malfoy sneered at me.

"Draco! That is no way to speak to a lady!" Mr. Malfoy actually looked shock.

"I'm Cassie Zwart, we go to school together." I explained before anything else could be said.

"Oh so you're Miss Zwart! Draco tells me your a metamorphmagus." Mr. Malfoy turned to me, his eyes were a lighter shade of grey than mine were.

"Yes sir." I grinned and I changed my hair to match his shade of blonde.

"How splendid! Do tell me, do you have any idea of your parentage?" He looked quite pleased at my demonstration.

"I just know that my name is Zwart, I don't know anything about my family. And with where I live and how busy school can get, I haven't had the time to find out much about my lineage." I shook my head while Malfoy's face just got into a deeper sneer.

"Well I'd say you're from a pureblood heritage if you have those kind of magical abilities." Mr. Malfoy was careful to take a little bit of my hair and I changed it to a light blue for him.

 _'A pureblood?'_ I thought to myself.

"I do hope you have a lovely rest of your summer, Draco and I have to get going on his school shopping. It was a pleasure to meet you Miss Zwart." Mr. Malfoy put his hand out for me.

I politely shook it and when his back was turned I stuck my tongue out at Malfoy who did the same back. I moved my stuff further down the sidewalk so that I wasn't in the way of anyone else. I sat back down and when I put my hand back in Barnabus cage he happily chirped and rubbed his cheek against my fingers.

"How do I end up with the lovers for animals?" I asked myself.

I don't know how long I was out there for, but I heard the commotion inside Flourish and Burkes. When the door opened I stood up and was surprised that Mr. Malfoy was holding his eye and his cheeks were flushed.

"You better be careful of the company you keep." He didn't threaten me, but I did hear the warning in his voice as he looked at me and walked away with his son following behind him.

"What happened in there?" I asked as Harry came out holding two bags of books.

"I'll explain later, what did he say to you?" Harry asked me.

"Nothing, just to be careful of the company I keep." I shook my head as I saw Mr. Weasley being fussed over by Mrs. Weasley.

Hagrid ducked out of the shop and saw me.

"Hello Cassie." He nodded.

"Hello Hagrid." I nodded back as I picked up my owl's cage.

"Got a new pet?" He asked as he took it from me.

"Yes, there's four of us and we all use Harry's owl. I figured I could get one as well to make things easier for Hedwig." I explained as Hagrid motioned for the other bags on the ground.

"Ah, he's is a beauty." Hagrid held the cage up to his face.

"Thank you. He is lovely." I agreed as the large group headed towards the Leaky Cauldron.

We were traveling through the fireplace again. I had everyone go ahead of me since I had the biggest purchases. Tom had offered to help load everything into the fireplace. I gave him my thanks as I dropped some powder on the wood underneath me and shouted "The Burrow."

I stumbled out of the fireplace and Mr. Weasley was quick to start removing my things from the fireplace.

"Thank you." I nodded to him.

"You're welcome Casse." He nodded back to me.

I started to head upstairs with my bag of books and cat food.

"Cassie?" Mr. Weasley was rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yes?" I paused.

"What did you and Lucius Malfoy talk about outside the store?" He asked.

"Does it really matter?" I asked, more curious to know the answer.

"It does." He nodded to me as he sat down on the chair next to Mrs. Weasley's.

"We just talked about my magical abilities, and he mentioned how I may be from a pureblood family because of it." I answered.

"That is all?" He leaned his head back with a sigh.

"Yes." I didn't stick around to answer any more questions.

I when I made it to Ginny's room I opened the door and she was quick to hide something under her pillow.

"What you got there?" I asked.

"Nothing." She answered a little too quickly.

I raised my eyebrow at her and nodded, "okay, I'll respect your privacy. Come help me with the last of this stuff please?"

She nodded and went down the stairs with me. Mr. Weasley didn't bother me when he saw Ginny was with me. Ron and Harry were passing us down the stairs.

"We're about to go flying, want to come with us?" Ron asked.

"Maybe in a little. I want to let Barnabas out and introduce him and Ariel together." I shook my head.

"Alright, we'll be out there whenever you want to join." Harry patted my shoulder and let Ginny and I pass.

I gestured to Ginny to put my things on my bed. She did and then sat on her bed. She was glancing at her pillow where she hid the thing.

"Don't worry, I have a letter from my mom I want to read. As soon as I'm done introducing Barnabas," I opened the door to my owl's cage and he flew right out and to the top of the dresser. "To Ariel, I will be out of here and you can take your secret out." I winked at her as Ariel came out from under the bed.

"Okay." Ginny nodded, her cheeks reddening as she looked guilty.

I picked Ariel up who started to purr and I lifted her so she and Barnabas could smell each other. Ariel gave a little hiss but didn't swipe at him. Barnabas just looked at her and started to preen his feathers. I put Ariel on the bed and cleared off my purchases and put them under the bed.

"Do you want to go out flying again tonight?" I asked Ginny.

"Not tonight." She shook her head.

"Alright, I'll see you at dinner." I was concerned she didn't want to go flying, I usually told her no because I was too tired.

I made sure the letter was still in my back pocket as I walked down the stairs.

"Dinner will be ready in two hours." Mrs. Weasley said to me as I walked through the kitchen.

"I'll have the boys home by then." I grinned to her.

She nodded and went back to cooking. As I walked out and passed the garden, Mr. Weasley had the hood of the car open and he was muttering under his breath with his wand in his hand. I acted like I didn't see him and I don't think he noticed me. Once I was a good distance away from the house, and not to the clearing where I knew Harry and Ron were, I pulled out my letter and opened it.

 _'Treasure,_

 _You're twelve now! Oh how I wish I was with you. I bet you look like your father. You haven't found anything out about him yet, have you? I made sure even he didn't know about you. There are only two people who know who your father is. Albus Dumbledore is one of them, the other is Remus Lupin._

 _Don't go looking for Remus, he's gone into hiding so that he doesn't draw attention to himself. Albus… Albus won't say anything until you learn the name of your father._

 _I'm sorry for dragging this on. I know you're probably dying to skip to the end to learn who he is, but Treasure, you need to know he was a different man before. He and I didn't love each other, not yet anyways._

 _The vault was my idea. We both knew we were going to be exiled from our families so while they weren't looking we got a joint account together and put what we could into it. We… We had one night together where we made you. And I don't regret that night, but I didn't get a chance to tell him. He… Oh Treasure I can't tell you everything yet. It's not my place. I know you're a smart girl. Maybe you can decide for yourself what kind of a man he is._

 _Your father's name is Sirius Black._

 _Love, mum'_

* * *

 **Holy moley this was a long chapter! I could have split this chapter into two but I really want to have Cassie read her mothers note in the first chapter. If this story starts to feel rushed please let me know I will try to slow it down for you guys! I do plan on trying to lengthen the chapters since I do enjoy how long this one is. The chapter itself is over 9,000 words! And that's not including my little note down here!**

 **Shout out to MarsUltor45 for following and favoriting the story and me.**

 **2takuya: I'm super excited for book 3 as well! SO MUCH IS GOING TO HAPPEN okay probably not a whole lot but enough to continue the story the way I see it going. And the best part about the reader knowing about Cassie's parentage is that _she still doesn't know_. I mean, now she has a name, but she still doesn't _know what we know_ and I think that's what makes this so frustrating for the reader and you just have to know what her reaction is going to be. I'm just super excited for this book because it's going to set the tone for next two years with her friends. I can't wait to get the ball rolling!**

 **Shout out to katie owl and BottleGreenFairy for following the story and katie owl to adding it to their favorites list!**

 **katie owl: I'm actually surprised you guessed Lupin. I thought I was being super obvious with the first book who her dad is! And I'm super flattered you read my first book so many times!**

 **I was going to wait until the New Year to post the first chapter. But I just couldn't wait any longer, and don't worry I will post every week a new chapter but instead of during the week it'll be on Sunday. It's my only 'for sure' day off and I figured I'd better utilize it. Enjoy the book!**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

 _Sirius Black_

My father's name was Sirius Black.

I didn't know how to react. I was excited to know his name, but my mum's letter… What did he do? The rest of month I tried to put on a facade that I was okay. But Harry saw right through it. He knew something was up but I was grateful he didn't push it.

The last night Harry and I were there, Mrs. Weasley made all of Harry's favorite things. She also made some potatoes for me that I devoured within seconds of them being on my plate.

For dessert we had a mouthwatering treacle pudding. As we were finishing up, George and Fred put on a fireworks show for us that lasted half an hour. Fred put his arm around my shoulders and I actually leaned into him this time. My arm warming us both up faster than we liked so he pulled away from and I didn't blame him. George's arm took his place and Mrs. Weasley made me another ice pack to melt.

While everyone went to bed I had let Barnabas out and I watched him and Hedwig fly over the trees to go hunting. I even had my stuff downstairs to make it easier for Mr. Weasley to put my things into the car. As I went to bed, Ginny was writing in her new diary.

I don't know where she got it from, but I didn't like the feeling I got when I looked at it. She had asked me not question it so I didn't. But I promised myself I would look after her this year.

After Snape put that lock on my memory, I had been sleeping through the night. I've even had regular dreams rather than interacting with Gertrude. Mrs. Weasley came in and woke us up. So I quickly changed out of my pajamas and into my clothes I wanted to travel in. The house was chaos. Everyone was running into each other, and starting to yell for things that should have been packed weeks ago.

I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth when George came in shirtless. I raised my eyebrow at him as he leaned against the door frame with his shirt over his shoulder. I felt my hair turn pink and I glared at my feet. He actually looked good with his freckles going down his chest, with just a light amount of hair around his navel going down…

I spun around finished rinsing my mouth out of the toothpaste and I didn't look at him when I pushed past him.

"Does Princess have a crush on me?" He teased.

"Shut up George!" I shouted up to him.

"Princess how could you! I thought we were going to be together!" Fred was suddenly over the rail and making dramatic motions with his arms.

He was also shirtless but I couldn't see if he was just as attractive as George or not.

"Why not all three of us just get in a relationship?" I called up the stairs.

I laughed when I didn't get a response. Harry was shaking his head at me but he had a smile on his face.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked.

"I am. Are you?" He asked me.

I nodded and we went out to the car together. Mr. Weasley showed us that he had magically expanded the car so that the luggage would fit easily in the car along with us in the seats.

"Not a word to Molly." He whispered to us with a wink.

We both nodded and clambered in. Barnabas, Hedwig, and Errol were in the back comfortably. Barnabas had a love struck look on his face and Hedwig was enjoying the attention. I nudged Harry and pointed at the two of them. He chuckled as Ariel's cage was put into my lap.

I decided to sit on the far left side of the car as I didn't want to overheat anyone with my arm since it was still emitting heat. George and Fred were both winking at me behind Percy's back and I purposefully turned my hair bright pink and looked away from them.

 _'I see them both as my brothers. Why do I find them attractive?'_ I scolded myself.

Before we even made it out of the driveway we had to turn back because George forgot his Filibuster fireworks. Fred forgot his broomstick, and Ginny forgot her diary. By the time we had reached the train station we were definitely going to be late.

Mr. Weasley pulled in and parked, the boys were quick to start unloading our luggage while Mr. Weasley ran to get trolleys for us. As George packed up his trunk and stuff onto his trolley, he picked up Barnabas cage and strapped him onto his trunk.

"Thank you." I said a I strapped Ariel onto my trolley.

"Of course Cassie." He winked at me and we went off to found our column.

Percy ran in first and then Mrs. Weasley sent in the twins and me right after them. When I arrived onto King's Cross station George was looking back for me. I pushed my trolley after him and got our trunks into the luggage compartment of the train. I let the conductor in charge of the luggage take Barnabas and put him with Errol. I grabbed Ariel and tried to keep her cage steady as Ginny rushed to get on the train as well. I had jumped on right behind her as the train started to move.

"Easy there Princess." George caught my waist as I almost stumbled backwards.

"Thank you," I whispered to him as he took Ariel's cage from my hands.

I turned around and looked on the platform. I didn't see Ron or Harry anywhere.

"Be good at school!" Mrs. Weasley called to me.

"Harry and Ron didn't make it through!" I shouted to her.

"What?" She asked, stumbling in her walk.

"Harry and Ron! They didn't make it on the platform!" I said as I slowly passed by her.

"They were right behind me!" She looked at Mr. Weasley.

"They're not here!" I shouted as I saw the end of the tunnel.

"We'll figure it out!" Mr. Weasley waved to me.

I pulled back into the train and the door shut and locked itself. When I turned back it was just George behind me.

"Harry and Ron didn't make it on the train?" He asked me as I took Ariel from him.

I shook my head as we walked down the tight hallway.

"It'll be okay, mum and dad will take care of them. I'm sure they'll floo to Hogwarts instead of taking the train." George patted my shoulder.

"Or they'll be stupid enough to take the car." I turned my head to face him.

He paused and cursed under his breath, "you're right. Ron would take the car."

"Yeah, so we will see them Hogwarts. I just hope they don't get expelled." I sighed as I saw Fred sitting with Lee and Ginny in a compartment.

"It would be an amazing story to tell though." George chuckled.

"That's true." I pointed at him.

"Are you going to join us?" He asked when he realized I wasn't make an effort to go in.

"No, I'm going to find Hermione and explain the situation to her." I answered.

"Oh right, you have other friends besides me." George sighed dramatically, placing a hand on his chest.

"Yes I do George." I rolled my eyes at him and turned away before he could see my cheeks turn pink.

"Hey Cassie." George called to me.

"Yes George?" I turned around to look at him.

"It's okay to have a crush on me. I have a crush on you." He stared at me.

I don't think my face could get any redder than it already was, and I was surprised that my hair had turned a lighter shade of pink in this situation. He chuckled as we stared at each other.

"I'm - I'm - I'm going to - to - go." I pointed behind me and just walked away from him.

 _'What makes him think I have a crush on him?! Do I have a crush on him? No! I can't think about George at the moment. I need to find Hermione and figure out what we're going to do with Harry and Ron. Then I need to figure out who Sirius Black is. THEN I can think about this crush on George.'_ I told myself as I looked in all the compartments.

I walked through five of the train cars before I finally found Hermione sitting in a compartment by herself.

"You have no idea the kind of day I am having." I said as I opened the door.

"Cassie!" Hermione leapt up and hugged me.

"Hello Hermione." I sighed as she let me into the compartment.

"Where's Ron and Harry?" Hermione looked out into the hallway before closing the door.

"They didn't make it onto the platform." I answered as I let Ariel out of her cage.

She stretched out and happily laid down on the seat in a full stretch and fell asleep.

"What do you mean they didn't make it on the platform?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know, they were right behind me and the next they weren't."

I told Hermione about the car and what Mr. Weasley had done to it. Then I told her my theory of the stupidity of boys.

"You know, I wouldn't be surprised if they did fly it to Hogwarts." She sighed.

"Me too." I nodded.

We sat in silence for maybe fifteen minutes or so before I laid down and cuddled with my cat.

"With those two boys for friends this is going to be the only uneventful train ride we will get." I mumbled to Hermione and fell right asleep.

* * *

Hermione was shaking me awake.

"You need to get changed, we're almost there." She was already in her school uniform.

"I'm up." I sat up.

Ariel had left her white fur on my side and I quickly changed from my regular clothes into my school uniform. When I sat down I gave my head a little shake and then I felt the train start to slow down.

"Let's go tell Hagrid so that he could tell McGonagall." I stood back up and picked Ariel up.

"Right." Hermione nodded and we walked towards one of the doors.

"Excuse me." A Ravenclaw prefect pushed herself in front of me.

Ariel put her front paws and chin over my shoulder so that I was carrying her in my right arm. Hermione chuckled as she scratched Ariel's ears.

"How old is your cat?" The Ravenclaw asked.

"I'm guessing about two or three years old, I got her just last year." I answered as the train came to a stop.

"Ah, she's a cute one." The Ravenclaw smiled.

"Yes she is." I agreed as she opened the door to let us off.

"Thank you." Hermione told the prefect as we tried to beat the crowd.

We linked arms and she gasped when she felt the heat from my arm. I didn't say anything as we walked by Fred and George who were escorting Ginny to Hagrid.

"Firs' years over here!" Hagrid was shouting.

"Hagrid!" I called out to the giant.

"Oh hello Cassie!" He grinned down to me.

"Hagrid, Harry and Ron didn't make it on the train." I told him.

"What do yer mean?" He was confused as he looked around for my friends.

"I mean, they didn't make it past the barrier. I don't know if Dumbledore has been made aware yet or not." I said.

"Alrigh' I'll tell Professor McGonagall when I see her." He nodded to me.

"Thank you!" I shouted to him as Hermione pulled me with the crowd.

"Cassie! Hermione! Over here!" Neville was waving from a mostly empty open carriage.

"What is this?" I asked as Neville helped Hermione up and then me.

"Our way to Hogwarts. Only the first years take the boats, the rest of the students take these." Hermione explained as she sat down.

"Oh, cool. So what's pulling the carriages then?" I gestured to the front.

"Nothing. They're enchanted." Hermione answered with a matter of fact tone.

"Cool." I shrugged as I turned to Neville who started talking about his summer.

We made it to the school and I was relieved to see it. Hermione re-linked our arms when we were entering the Great Hall.

"It's weird to be here and not be a first year." I admitted as we went to sit down.

Hermione was nodding to me when I saw Professor Dumbledore sitting at his spot at the table grinning at the students coming in.

"I'll be right back, I'm going to tell Dumbledore about the Harry and Ron situation." I put Ariel on my seat and walked up to the table.

"Hello Miss Zwart!" Dumbledore greeted me.

"Hello Professor." I smiled to him.

"What brings you up here?" He asked me.

"Harry and Ron, sir." I sighed.

"They did not make it onto the train." He finished what I was going to say.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Molly and Arthur Weasley were quick to let me know. All of the teachers are aware of the situation." He nodded to me.

"Oh good, then I guess I'll go sit at my table and wait for the feast." I nodded to him.

"One last thing Cassie." He spoke.

I turned to him, "Yes sir?"

"How is your arm doing?" He looked over his half-moon spectacles at me.

"It feels like it's burning all the time." I answered honestly.

"I thought so." He nodded as he pet his beard, "I will have a talk with Severus and see what we can do to help that."

"Thank you sir." I nodded to him and walked back to Hermione.

Ariel was still sitting in my spot, and George had decided to sit next to her. I was grateful I decided to keep my hair the sunrise pink so that no one would know of my embarrassment of sitting next to him.

He gently pressed his arm against my side as the doors opened to reveal McGonagall leading all of the first years. I waved to Ginny as she passed me. She waved back and raised her eyebrow when she saw how close George and I were. I just shook my head and hoped she wouldn't ask me about it later.

McGonagall stood off by the hat and it's mouth opened up. I didn't catch anything it was saying because George had decided to put a little more pressure into my side so I gently pushed him away but made sure to maintain contact.

 _'I need to figure out my father situation first before I can figure out my crush situation.'_ I sighed to myself as I tried to keep my left arm away from Hermione.

Once the hat was done singing, Professor McGonagall started to call out names andI paid more attention to which student was going to which house. Professor Snape's seat was empty and I did a casual look around the room.

"Who are you looking for?" George whispered in my ear.

"Harry and Ron, I'm wondering if they made it or not." I whispered back into his ear.

He nodded as he also looked around the room.

"Weasley, Ginevra!" McGonagall called.

I turned my head to face the front as Ginny slowly walked up the steps to put on the hat.

"Gryffindor!" The hat called.

I cheered with the rest of my table as Ginny came and sat with her fellow first years.

McGonagall finished up the list and just as she was picking up the sorting hat there was a bunch of crashing. Everyone looked around to try to find it but no one could see what was going. After a few moments it stopped and everyone turned to Dumbledore who stood up.

"Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

Food appeared in front of us and we heard the first years gasp and I started piling potatoes onto my plate. George add some roast beef onto my plate and I nodded my thanks to him as Ariel started to sniff at my plate. I cut some off for her and she took it gently out of my hand and jumped to the ground.

George chuckled as he shook his head and started to eat the feast.

"Where do you think Harry and Ron are?" Hermione asked.

"Who do you think caused the crashing?" I twisted my my head so that my neck was bent and I was looking up at Hermione.

"What could they have possibly crashed into?" Hermione asked, rolling her eyes at me.

"The Whomping Willow." George and Fred said together, their eyes widening.

"The Whomping Willow?" I repeated.

"It's been on the grounds for _years!_ If they crashed into that they may have made the most spectacular entrance to Hogwarts, and no one was around to see it!" George explained as Fred started to grumble under his breath.

"I can't believe I want to be a part of their adventure right now." I grumbled to Hermione as she rolled her eyes.

Professor Snape came in through a side door, and whispered in McGonagall's ear and then into Dumbledore's. I watched McGonagall's lips thin out and Dumbledore's face grew grim.

"The boys are back. And Snape caught them." I said, pointed my fork over to the Professor's table and McGonagall left with Snape while Dumbledore kept eating.

"Oh boy!" George said, also watching McGonagall walk out with Snape.

I caught Dumbledore's eye and he just barely shook his head so that only I could see. I nodded to him and flashed my hair Gryffindor red before turning it back to sunrise pink. He chuckled as dinner cleared itself and dessert replaced it. Dumbledore chose that moment to get up and walk out of the side door. The Hall then fell into whispers as to where the Headmaster, Head of Gryffindor, and Head of Slytherin could have gone.

I put some chocolate cake and lemon tart on my plate and started to eat my dessert. I was honestly feeling very disappointed that I wasn't getting in trouble with the boys.

"Percy does not look happy." George muttered into my ear.

I looked in front of him while he leaned back so that I could see Percy chewing his cheek as he watched Dumbledore leave the Great Hall.

"I don't think he'll ever be happy again." I looked up at George apologetically.

"I don't think so either." George admitted to me.

I felt my heart beat get harder when he looked down at me with his brown eyes.

 _'Bollocks. Maybe I do have a crush on him?'_ I looked away and shoved the rest of the lemon tart into my mouth in hopes of getting him to stop looking at me.

He chuckled and started to eat off his own plate.

Dumbledore came back with Snape and Snape just did not look happy. McGonagall followed behind shortly and her mouth wasn't as thin as it was before she left.

"I don't think they got expelled." I mentioned to anyone who was paying attention to me.

Dumbledore stood up and with a wave of his hands, the tables cleared themselves.

"Ahem - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils, and a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore turned and look at me.

I was confused until I remembered that my unicorn, Celeste, lived out there with her herd.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trails will be held in the second week of term, anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch."

"Does he usually repeat the same message?" I asked George behind me.

"Usually, sometimes he'll change it up." George put his chin on top of my head.

I felt someone kick me under the table. I turned to glare at Fred who looked guilty.

"Sorry, I was aiming for George." He apologized.

"Finally, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" Dumbledore performed the same wand movements and a long ribbon came out and started to form the words.

This year, I kept my mouth shut again.

 _"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

 _Teach us something please,_

 _Where we be old and bald,_

 _Or young with scabby knees,_

 _Our heads could do with filling_

 _With some interesting stuff,_

 _For now they're bare and full of air,_

 _Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

 _So teach us things worth knowing,_

 _Bring back what we forgot,_

 _Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

 _And learn until our brains all rot."_

"Why is Lockhart here!?" I hissed to Hermione when I finally noticed the blonde man from Mrs. Weasley's book.

"Didn't someone tell you? He's the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year." Hermione whispered back excitedly.

I groaned and drop my head on the table.

"Ah music." Dumbledore said when the last note was sung, "A magic beyond all we do here! Off you trot!"

All the students in the Great Hall stood up and started to walk out.

"Aren't you coming with us?" George put a hand on my shoulder and leaned to down so that I could hear him.

"No, I'm going to wait and find Ron and Harry before Gryffindor tower can get to them." I said into his ear.

"Don't be late, I heard Percy say the password is 'wattlebird.' " George said into my ear and gave my shoulder a soft squeeze.

I nodded as he walked with the crowd. Hermione stayed seated next to me as the Hall emptied.

"Let's go." I said as the teachers watched us.

Hermione nodded as we slowly made our way up to the tower.

"Where do you think they were kept at?" I asked Hermione.

"In a classroom, or a teacher's office." Hermione answered as we looked down individual corridors.

"They could be anywhere then." I sighed.

"Then let's just go to the tower, we can wait for them outside." Hermione said as Ariel trotted ahead of us.

"I like that plan better." I nodded as we walked up the staircases in silence.

 _'Sirius Black. I need to look him up and see what happened.'_ I thought to myself .

" _There_ you are!" Hermione suddenly said next to me.

When I looked up Harry and Ron were standing in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"You made it!" I said in relief as I ran up to Harry and hugged him.

"Where have you _been_?" Hermione asked as I hugged Ron.

"The most _ridiculous_ rumors - someone said you'd been expelled for crashing a flying _car_ -" Hermione was starting to get angry.

"Well, we haven't been expelled." Harry tried to assure Hermione.

"Thank goodness for that." I nudged my elbow into Harry's arm who nodded.

"You're not telling me you did _fly_ here?" Hermione actually looked shock.

"Skip the lecture." Ron was impatient, "and tell us the new password."

"It's 'wattlebird'," Hermione rolled her eyes. "But that's not the point-"

She was interrupted when the portrait swung open and there was a storm of clapping.

"I won't see you the rest of tonight, goodnight!" I was quick to tell the boys before hands pulled them inside.

Hermione's face was in a scowl as we clambering in behind them. Everyone was cheering Harry and Ron for their grand entrance into Hogwarts. I saw George and Fred head towards Harry and I went straight for the girls staircase. I didn't want another awkward encounter with George that night.

I had to pick up Ariel and carry her when I realized how many people were stomping about in the excitement of the moment. I waved to Harry and then pointed to Percy who was trying to make his way towards the boys. He nodded and said something to Ron and they both pushed their way to their staircase.

I climbed all the way to the top of the dormitories and found the second year room. I walked in and found Lavender and Parvarti on their respective beds. I put Ariel on the bed and she proceeded to make herself comfortable on the pillow as I changed into my pajamas.

"I can't believe they're going to get away with it." Hermione was grumbling as she came in.

"I'm sure they got detention." I said as I started to get sleepy.

I didn't hear what else Hermione said, I had fallen asleep.

* * *

The next day was gloomy at breakfast. Hermione, for some reason, was still angry with boys. I was happy that they hadn't been expelled from Hogwarts.

"Morning." She said stiffly to the boys when they joined us.

"Morning Harry!" Neville was quick to greet them cheerfully.

I pushed a pitcher of orange juice towards Harry since I had a mouth full of eggs.

"Mail's due any minute - I think Gran's sending a few things I forgot." Neville said as he made room for them on the bench.

Harry had just made himself some porridge when a hundred or so owls came in through the windows. Neville had a package bounce off his head, and Errol crashed right into Hermione's book that was propped up on a milk pitcher.

 _"Errol!"_ Ron pulled the poor bird out of the mess as I took a bite of my sausage.

"Oh no." Ron whispered.

"It's all right, he's still alive." Hermione poked Errol.

"It's not that - it's _that_." Ron pointed to a red envelope.

"It's just a red envelope?" I questioned.

"She's - she's sent me a howler." Ron whispered.

"You'd better open it Ron." Neville also timidly whispered.

"What is so terrifying about a howler?" I looked at Harry who shrugged.

"It'll be worse if you don't-" Neville continued and shivered from some memory. "My gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and it - it was horrible."

"What's a howler?" Harry asked.

No one answered. Ron pulled the letter away and slit it open. Neville stuffed his fingers in ears and I wished I did the same a second later.

 ** _"-STEALING THE CAR. I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE-"_**

"Merlin's beard." I said, but no one heard me.

 ** _"-LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT. I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME , WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED-"_**

Harry perked up when his name was said but then he clutched his ears again.

 ** _"-ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED - YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."_**

"So that's a howler." I said to Harry who hid a snigger.

The letter fell from where it was floating and burst into flames. A few people laughed and a babble of talk rang through the Great Hall instead.

"Well, I don't know what you expected Ron, but you -" Hermione started.

"Hermione, it's not your place." I protested.

"Don't tell me I deserved it!" Ron snapped as he sat back up, he had slunk down in his seat during his lecture.

McGonagall came down with our schedules and I was grateful for a change of subject.

"We have double Herbology with the Hufflepuffs today." I grinned up at Neville.

Neville was amazing at Herbology, and we were partners through it. I was starting to get more excited for this term.

I have a name for my father, my friends were safe in Hogwarts, I had a boy who had a crush on me. How could this year possibly be as dangerous as last year?

* * *

After breakfast Neville and I walked together to the greenhouses since Hermione decided to join Harry and Ron earlier. As we walked I noticed Professor Sprout had an armful of bandages and Lockhart was following right behind her.

"Professor Sprout! Would you like some help?" I hurried over to her and started to take some of the roll of bandages from her before she could answer.

"Thank you dear." She murmured to me while Lockhart rambled about something behind us.

"Oh hello!" Professor Lockhart looked down at me and gasped when he saw my face.

"Hello." I was short with my answer and walked ahead of them.

"Just been showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow! But I don't want you running away with the idea I'm better at Herbology than she is! I just happen to have met several of these exotic plants on my travels…" Lockhart caught his stumble and turned to the rest of the students as I rolled my eyes at him.

"Greenhouse three today chaps!" Professor Sprout did not sound cheerful.

She unlocked the door and I followed right behind her since I had bandages in my arms.

"Harry! I've been wanting a word - you don't mind if he's a couple of minutes late, do you Professor Sprout?" Lockhart had grabbed Harry's shoulder.

"He still needs to be in classes to learn so that he can have a career later in life." I called out from my end of the greenhouse.

I'm positive every girl glared at me when I spoke to Lockhart that way.

"'That's the ticket." Lockhart had ignored me and since Professor Sprout didn't protest fast enough he had pulled Harry out and closed the door.

"I hate that guy." I grumbled to Sprout as she took the bandages out of my arms and into a bucket.

Sprout and I made eye contact with each other. She gave me a small, extremely, subtle nod and I giggled at her.

I made my way over to Neville who saved a spot for me thankfully. After a few moments Harry walked in and found his spot between Ron and Hermione, right across from me. We shared a look and I rolled my eyes at the door and he nodded.

"We'll be re-potting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?" Professor Sprout started as soon as Harry had gotten settled.

Hermione's hand shot right up just as Neville was about to raise his hand.

"Don't be shy to answer a question." I whispered to him as I nudged him.

"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative," Hermione started to explain. "It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state."

"Excellent. Ten points to Gryffindor." Professor Sprout smiled at Hermione, "the mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?"

"Quick Neville." I whispered to him, and pushed his hand.

Hermione's hand was quicker though.

"The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it." Hermione answered.

"Precisely. Take another ten points." Professor Sprout's smile and chipper was back. "Now the Mandrakes we have here are still very young."

There was a row of trays she pointed too. A hundred or so tufty little plants, purplish green in color, were growing in rows.

"Everyone take a pair of earmuffs." Professor Sprout gestured to the pile of earmuffs in front of us.

There was a scramble as everyone avoided the bright pink earmuffs. I grinned as I picked them up, and matched my hair to the same shade as them. I got a chuckle and some giggles from my classmates.

"When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are _completely_ covered," Sprout pulled a pot out of the rows and put it in front of her. "When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up. Right - earmuffs _on_."

I snapped my earmuffs on, and I couldn't hear a thing. Sprout pulled her sleeves up, grabbed on the tuffy plants and pulled hard. There in her hand was a baby. An ugly baby. It had green skin and was clearly crying as loud as it could.

Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and plunged the Mandrake into it. She poured dark soil on top of it until the only thing you can see was its leaves. She dusted her hands and gave us the thumbs up. We all took off our earmuffs as well.

"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill you yet, however they will knock you out for several hours and as I'm sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up." Sprout explained as I crouched down to set up the big pots in the order i was planning on grabbing them.

"Four to a tray - there is a large supply of pots here - compost in the sacks over there - and be careful of the Venemous Tentacula, it's teething." She slapped a spiky, dark red plant.

I watched a curly-haired Hufflepuff boy join Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Neville and I were joined by two shy Hufflepuff girls.

"Hello, I'm Cassie." I waved to the girls as I carried a bag of compost to our spot.

"I'm Hannah, and this is Gracie." The long blonde girl introduced herself.

"Hello. Will you grab another bag just in case we run out during our plotting?" I asked Gracie.

She nodded her head and grabbed the other bag I had nodded towards.

"Thank you." I smiled at her.

Once we had everything set up I pulled a tray towards us. We watched Professor Sprout to give the go ahead to start potting.

"Neville you pull out the mandragora. I'll add the compost to the pots, Hannah will you put them in that tray back there, and Gracie, you can help me add compost." I told everyone just as Professor Sprout put her earmuffs on.

I did too and Neville nervously took his place by the mandrake pots. And Hannah and Gracie took their spots. We got the go ahead to get the mandragora re-potting going. So Neville started to pull, and I had Gracie put the pot under the mandrake and I would fill them up and hand them to Hannah.

I saw that Hannah and Gracie weren't quite happy with their positions so after we had gotten through two trays I pulled Neville aside and showed him that he was taking over Hannah's job. So we rotated, Gracie was pulling the mandrakes out of the pot and I was putting the pot under her while Hannah filled them in.

Gracie kept track of her pots because after she did the same amount as Neville, we rotated again. I started pulling mandrakes out of the pots. They were a lot heavier than I expected. After I did several of them, I passed the position over to Hannah, and the Hufflepuff's looked a lot happier that we were getting a lot done and taking turns.

Near the end, we were all covered in dirt and Sprout gave the thumbs up to let our earmuffs off. So we did. Hannah and Gracie were grinning at me and they thanked me and went back to their previous spots.

"Ten points each to Abbot, Burender, Longbottom, Zwart for their teamwork." Sprout started to hand out points as we exited the greenhouse to do a quick wash up.

* * *

I walked into Transfiguration and started to inspect the beatles on the desks.

"You will be transfiguring these beatles into buttons." McGonagall said as she walked through the rows of desks.

Hermione and I had a nice collection of buttons by the end of the class. Whereas Harry seemed to have forgotten everything from the previous year. But Ron… Ron's wand had snapped in half from his crash with the Whomping Willow and was causing him problems.

"What've we got this afternoon?" Harry quickly asked us as Hermione showed Ron her collection of buttons.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts." Hermione answered quickly.

Ron seized her schedule and his mouth shaped into a sneer of disgust, "why have you outlined all Lockhart's lessons in little hearts?"

Hermione didn't say anything as she started to blush furiously when she grabbed her schedule from Ron. I rolled my eyes at the boys as we finished lunch. We walked out to the courtyard and Hermione sat on a cobblestone and pulled out _Voyages with Vampires_ and buried her nose in it. I sat on the stone next to her and pulled out our homework from Transfiguration.

I told McGonagall last year that I wanted to be the Transfiguration Professor when she became headmistress after Dumbledore. And now I'm going to do everything I can to prove to her that I can be the next professor, even though that's years away.

"All right, Harry?" A timid voice spoke up.

I looked up and there was a small mousy-haired boy holding a muggle camera.

"I'm - I'm Colin Creevey." He took a step towards us, "I'm in Gryffindor, too. D'you think - it would be all right if - can I have a picture?" He asked shyly.

"A picture?" Harry repeated blankly.

 _'Awe Harry's second fan!'_ I grinned up at my best friend.

"So I can prove I've met you," Colin took another step towards us.

"I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've still got a lightning scar on your forehead and a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures will _move_." Colin gained confidence as he stepped forward and got excited about what he was talking about.

I slowly stood up so that I could be next to Harry in case Colin tried to tackle him or something.

"It's _amazing_ here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. So I'm taking loads of pictures to send home to him. And it'd be really good if I had one of you. Maybe your friend could take it and I could stand next to you? And then you could sign it?" Colin's eyes were huge like a puppies and I was almost tempted to tell Harry to do it for the kid.

" _Signed photos?_ You're giving out _signed photos_ , Potter?" Malfoy was kind enough to join us.

I rolled my eyes as I placed myself next to Colin, not wanting Malfoy to pay too much attention to the new kid.

"Everyone line up!" Malfoy roared to the courtyard, "Harry Potter's giving out signed photos!"

"No I'm not, shut up Malfoy!" Harry clenched his fists behind me.

"You're just jealous." Colin said next to me.

 _'I like him!'_ I grinned down to the boy.

 _"Jealous?"_ Malfoy shouted, but he honestly didn't have too.

"Of what? I don't want a foul scar right across my head, thanks. I don't think getting your head cut open makes you that special, myself." Malfoy laughed to his cronies.

"Watch it Malfoy." I growled low to him, making sure to flash my scar at him.

"Eat slugs, Malfoy." Ron said angrily behind me.

"Be careful, Weasley." Malfoy sneered, avoiding my gaze. "You don't want to start any trouble or your mommy'll have to come and take you away from school."

"At least he's trying to stay in school and avoiding bringing his parents into any conversation. _'My father will hear about this!'_ " I butted in and changed my voice to match Malfoy's which earned a bunch of laughs from around the courtyard.

Malfoy's ears turned red before he turned his attention back to Harry, "Weasley would like a signed photo Potter. It'll be worth more than his family's whole house." Malfoy smirked.

"Look out!" Hermione whispered behind us.

"What's all this, what's all this?" Lockhart came striding out, his turquoise robes swirling between his legs.

 _'I think this is the only time I will be grateful he's here.'_ I admitted to myself as I pulled Colin off to the side.

"Who's giving out signed photos?" Lockhart asked.

Harry went to open his mouth to speak but Lockhart didn't give him a chance.

"Shouldn't have asked! We meet again, Harry!"

I turned back to Malfoy who was smirking as he slipped into the crowd. I turned back to Harry and followed Malfoy. I didn't hear a thing Lockhart was saying but Malfoy didn't realize I was right behind him as he started to laugh to the group of Slytherins he was trying to impress.

"Draco." I said calmly.

"What do you want with him?" A gross looking Slytherin sneered at me.

I just stared at him and he continued to sneer down at me until he got uncomfortable.

"Malfoy, there's a Gryffindor for you." He finally turned away from me.

Malfoy walked over to me and he actually looked guilty when he came up to me.

"Having a scar right across your face does not make anyone special. It just gets unwanted attention." I glared at him and then walked away before he could respond.

I hurried after Hermione who was two steps behind Lockhart and Harry. Ron was slouched over and when I reached him, he was glaring at Lockhart, or it could have been Harry.

"You know, Harry hates having this kind of attention." I said to Ron.

Ron jumped and he started to stutter, "I - I - I am not jealous."

"Don't worry, I won't tell. But he doesn't want it. If he could put you there, he would." I nudged Ron.

We walked together in silence after that. When we entered our class with Lockhart I nudged Ron to sit next to Harry and I sat next to Hermione. After everyone else had also found their seats, Lockhart picked Neville's copy of _Travels with Trolls_ , and winked at the same time as his portrait.

"Me, Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of _Witch Weekly's_ Most-Charming-Smile Award - but I don't about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by _smiling_ at her!" Lockhart gave a guffaw at the end of his introduction.

No one laughed with him.

"I see you've all bought a complete set of my books -" He started.

"They were on the list." I grumbled under my breath.

Hermione elbowed me as Lockhart continued, "well done. I thought we'd start today with a little quiz, Nothing to worry about - just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in-"

Lockhart started passing out papers. I stared up at him and he didn't look at me. I rolled my eyes as Hermione gave me a questioning look. I shook my head at her.

"You have thirty minutes - start - _now!_ " Lockhart took a look at his wrist and threw his hand down like he was starting a race.

I looked down and was stumped at question one.

 _1\. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?_

"I am not taking this quiz." I stood up.

"And you are?" Lockhart raised his eyebrow.

"You don't care. This is absolutely ridiculous, what does any of it have to do with defending ourselves? Nothing!" I was getting angry and I watched Lockhart's eyes grow wide as my hair turned red.

"All you want is to have your ego boosted and that's absolute bollocks!" I finished as I ripped my quiz up.

"Now Miss Zwart-" Lockhart put a finger up almost theatrically.

"Take points from me. Give me detention. I don't give a rat's arse." I snarled at him, "but I will not be taking this quiz if it's all about you." I threw the pieces of paper into the air, picked up my book and book bag and walked out of the class.

 _'What a load of trash.'_ I thought angrily to myself as I walked to the Transfiguration class.

I was grumbling under my breath when I entered the class and everyone turned to look at me while I stomped my way to McGonagall's chair. She was at a chalkboard talking about the effects of the spell the fourth years were learning. Her eyebrow was raised as I sat in her chair.

"Miss Zwart?" She called as I made myself comfortable in her chair behind her desk.

I looked around the class and saw George and Fred with their mouths wide open in confusion and the class was staring at me and back to McGonagall.

"Professor Lockhart is unprofessional and I do not wish to participate in his class today." I said as politely as I could and then slammed my head on the desk.

There were some giggles around the classroom.

"And you came here -?" McGonagall asked from her place.

"So that you know where I am when he comes running to cry about how 'one of your students interrupted his class and hurt his ego.' " I changed my voice and hair to match Lockhart's.

I had sat up as well was making dramatic arm motions in the chair I was sitting in. George and Fred both had their heads thrown back and were laughing at me.

"Miss Zwart." McGonagall shook her head but there was a faint smile on her lips.

"I know, I know. I shouldn't have had my outburst and blah blah blah. I'm going to have detention and maybe some points taken. But if that means I get to be here, and not there. I'll take it." I changed myself back and pulled out my Herbology book and some spare parchment.

"Very well, but no interruptions." McGonagall raised her eyebrow at me and pointed her piece of chalk in my directions.

"Yes ma'am." I nodded and started to make notes on the Mandrake and its uses.

Once I was done with that, McGonagall was still going through her lesson so I sat quietly and just listened. They were starting to learn how to switch one species to another. They each had a guinea-fowl and it was supposed to be turned into a guinea pig. I watched carefully as each student performed the wand movement. Some succeeded in the change, and others did not. George got it on the first try, but Fred still struggled for a bit. I watched them closely and I watched as George whispered to Fred. Fred eventually got it which I grinned at.

 _'So they are better at different things.'_ I thought with a grin.

"Alright everyone! Your homework is to write an essay on the theory of this charm and its effect it could have on not only animals, but people as well." McGonagall dismissed the class.

I gathered my stuff and was about to leave when Lockhart came bustling into the room looking ruffled. I sighed and walked to stand next to my Head of House.

"I'm so glad I caught you Professor McGonagall!" Lockhart said, not seeing that I was standing right there.

"What can I do for you, Professor Lockhart." McGonagall's voice was void of any emotion and it was quite frightening.

"One of your students, Cassiopeia Zwart, refused to take my quiz!" I'm positive he would have stomped his foot if he could have.

"Oh yes, the quiz asking when your birthday is? What you would like for your birthday, and what is perhaps you're favorite color?" McGonagall's voice and face grew colder.

Lockhart kind of shrank in on himself. He still hadn't noticed me.

'What a crock.' I shook my head at how pathetic he is.

"It's important the students know who their teachers are." Lockhart tried to defend himself.

"Do we really need to remember when your birthday is? And you haven't even asked me what my favorite color is." I rolled my eyes and tried to keep my voice in check but I'm sure he could hear the sass.

"Oh! Miss Zwart! Here you are!" Lockhart was getting flustered.

"Gilderoy, you are supposed to be teaching the students how to defend themself from the Dark Arts, not preening yourself for an ego boost." McGonagall was sounding just as done as I was feeling.

"Why I never-" Lockhart's cheeks had started to turn red.

"So obviously I'm getting detention, and ten points taken yes?" I asked the useless man.

He stood there just trying to get his mouth moving.

"I think that sounds about right, and Miss Zwart will be serving it with me Saturday night." McGonagall and I looked at each other and I winked, McGongall's lips lightly turned up in the corners of her mouth.

"Sounds good. See you around!" I waved and I got out of there as fast as I could.

* * *

 **MoonlitWinter: Don't you worry about Christensen. She'll show up ;)**

 **katie owl: Snape? I never could picture Snape with kids of his own. He's not my most disliked character, but I don't care for him a whole lot. Alan Rickman did a phenomenal job on portraying him though which I'm super impressed with. But don't worry, I'm sure if any more clues to anything else pop up you'll figure it out!**

 **Shout out to DoctahG for following the story, and to MoonlitWinter for favoriting the story!**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Hermione was angry that I had stormed out during the class. Harry and Ron were congratulating me and saying how they wished they had done the same. They told me about the cornish pixie fiasco and I rolled my eyes at that.

"He's a fake. We just don't have the proof." I sighed to the boys one night as we were doing homework.

The boys agreed while Hermione tried her best to defend him.

During potions later that week, Snape wasn't looking at me as we started to brew a potion to remind ourselves how it was done. When he did look at me, he was standing over what I was doing and I knew he was looking at my arm.

 _'It's there. But I figured you didn't need to see it.'_ I thought as I added horned slug juice and had Neville stir it clockwise as I did so.

I heard him sniff and he walked away. I was pleasantly surprised when the rest of the class went by smoothly and as we were clearing up our cauldrons Snape was assigning our homework.

"Miss Zwart, if you would stay after class please?" Snape asked.

I froze for a second and gestured for my friends to go ahead without me. We waited until the class had emptied when he held out his hand.

"Your arm." He was brisk.

I held out my left arm and he took it. His eyebrows furrowed as he felt the heat coming out of my arm.

"How long has it been burning?" He asked as he rubbed his palm up from my wrist to my shoulder.

"Since I got it." I admitted.

"Show me." He said, not looking up at me.

I clenched my fist and slowly revealed the black flames encircling my arm, I gave a sigh of relief when I was done. He twisted my arm this way and that way to look at my scar. He pulled out his wand and I took my arm from him.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"There's a spell, it will relieve the pain but only for a short while. It won't be permanent but it'll give you some relief during the next couple weeks." He explained calmly.

"Oh." I said as he took my arm back.

 _"Frigus dracacrys."_ He said and waved his wand down my arm.

A blue light came out and engulfed my arm. Instantly my arm cooled down and a small amount of steam came off as the heat dulled down. I gave a sigh of relief and a small smile. Snape rubbed his palm from my shoulder down to my wrist and gave a nod in approval.

"You will need to come back in a couple of weeks for me to reapply the charm on your arm." Snape stood up with a sniff.

"Thank you!" I said.

"Now leave." He sneered as he turned his back to me.

"Yes sir!" I waved even though I knew he didn't see, and then left his class.

I hurried to the Great Hall and found my friends.

"What did Snape want?" Harry asked and he pushed a filled dinner plate towards my seat as I sat down.

"He performed a charm on my arm so that it doesn't burn." I held my arm out for them to feel.

"Is it permanent?" Hermione asked after she had her turn.

"No. The flames were cursed and so the curse is permanent. The charm is providing temporary relief. Once the charm is up I have to go back." I explained as we started to eat.

"Was it bothering you?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, it was. But I figured I would have to get used to it since it's now a part of me." I shrugged as I started to eat.

They nodded and went back to eating as well.

* * *

I was looking forward to sleeping in Saturday morning. We were going to visit Hagrid that afternoon and I was enjoying my sleep when I was shook awake. When I opened my eyes, the birds were singing but the sun wasn't even up yet.

"What-?" I rubbed my eyes as I sat up.

"Wood wants a morning practice." Alicia Spinnett yawned above me.

"UGH!" I threw my covers off me and started to pull out my team robes.

"See you down there." Alicia waved and walked out of the room.

Once I had all of my clothes on, I grabbed my cloak to keep me warm. I grabbed Lancelot from under my bed and started to go down the stairs.

"Oh good! Don't be late Zwart!" Wood called as he left the common room.

I didn't say anything as he left and Harry came down the stairs.

"Morning." He yawned to me.

I gave an unladylike grunt and we both started to walk out of the common room. But we didn't even make it to through the portrait hole when there was a clambering behind us. When I turned around, I gave a small grin as Colin Creevey came down with his camera in his hands.

"I heard someone saying your name on the stairs, Harry! Look what I've got here! I've had it developed, I wanted to show you-" He was breathless as he spoke.

I peaked over Harry's shoulder and was quite impressed. Colin had developed a photograph, and it was a moving one. Lockhart was fighting to get Harry into the photo, but Harry's photo self wasn't having any of it. Lockhart gave up and was slumped against the side of it, panting.

"That's brilliant, but you may want to photograph willing participants." I said offhandedly, nudging Harry who was nodding in agreement.

"Will you sign it?" Colin didn't respond to me.

"No." Harry gave the room a quick once over as he answered.

"Sorry Colin, but we've got to go - we have Quidditch practice." I pulled Harry out of the portrait hole in hopes of getting him away from his exuberant fan.

"Oh wow! Wait for me! I've never watched a Quidditch game before!" Colin scrambled after us.

I rolled my eyes and gave a quiet sigh as Harry grimaced.

"It'll be really boring." Harry tried to say quickly.

The look I gave had him blushing, Quidditch boring?!

"You were the youngest House player in a hundred years, weren't you?" Colin's eyes were shining.

"Cassie and I both." Harry gestured to me.

I waved at him and he gave me the same shining look.

"Oh wow! You must be brilliant! I've never flown, is it easy?" Colin asked.

During the rest of our walk, Harry was explaining the rules of the game and how each position was different. I was internally giggling and sighing as the poor kid questioned Harry on everything he could.

"I'll go and get a seat Harry!" Colin said as we reached the Quidditch pitch.

"Finally." I sighed as we joined our team inside the changing rooms.

"There you are Harry, Cassie." Wood greeted us.

He was the only one who was truly awake. Everyone else was puffy eyed and yawning as Harry and I sat down.

"I wanted a quick talk with you all before we actually get onto the field, because I spent the summer devising a whole new training program, which I really think will make all the difference." Wood started.

Behind him was a large diagram of a Quidditch field and with a tap of his wand, it started to move. Staring at it put me in a trance and I ended up laying my head on Harry's shoulder. He had started to shift under my weight when I was picked up and pulled to my other side. When I looked up through my tired eyelids, George had put my head on his shoulder.

I was grateful that my hair was already pink and that no one could see my blush as I fell asleep on his shoulder. He fell asleep as well, I felt his head grow heavy on mine as we tried to get some more rest.

"Is that clear? Any questions?" Wood asked.

George jumped a little which made me jump too.

"I've got a question Oliver." George rubbed his eyes, "why couldn't you have told us this yesterday when we were awake?"

Wood glared at him and I avoided looking at our Quidditch captain.

"Now, listen here you lot." Wood turned his glare to all of us. "We should have won the Quidditch cup last year. We're easily the best team, but unfortunately - owing to circumstances beyond our control-"

Harry and I both shared a guilty look. We were both unconscious in the hospital wing during the final match last year. They were a player short, since I was the only reserve and they didn't have anymore, they suffered the worst defeat in three hundred years.

"So this year, we train harder than before. Let's go put our new theories into practice!" Wood shouted and started to walk out of the changing rooms.

As we exited the locker room, the sun was bright and I was blinking to get my eyes used to the brightness as Harry pulled me over to where Ron and Hermione had joined.

"Aren't you finished yet?" Ron asked as we joined them.

"We haven't eaten yet." I stumbled as I took a bite out of Hermione's toast.

"She means started." Harry took a bite of the toast I had offered him too.

"Wood's been teaching us new moves." I finished as I handed Hermione's toast back to her.

Harry and I both mounted our brooms and kicked off into the air. The cool air in my hair and face was more effective in waking us up than the warmth of the changing room.

"So, Cassie, what's going on with you and George?" Harry asked as we were doing a loop around the pitch.

I don't know how I stumbled on my broom, but I managed it. I had fallen down some and had managed to catch my fall and came back up to Harry's level.

"I don't know." I said honestly.

"It looks to me that he likes you." Harry looked at George who was racing with his twin.

"He does. He told me on the train." I did a lazy corkscrew and started to hang upside down next to Harry.

"He does like you?" Harry turned his head sharply to me then back to George.

"Yup." I popped the 'p'.

"Do you like him back?" He asked just as the twins joined us.

"Does Cassie like who back?" Fred asked as he pulled up next to Harry.

"Just a guy." I shrugged as George watched me intently.

"If 'just a guy' likes our Princess, then I want to know." Fred squinted his eyes at me.

But I noticed his eyes had shifted for just a second to George.

"If you beat me in a race, I'll tell you." I smirked and I pushed myself into my broom and rushed away from them.

The boys all laughed after me but they raced after.

We didn't even make it a full lap when Colin's camera was heard clicking away.

"Who is that?" Fred asked.

"No idea." Harry lied as he tried to surpass me.

"What's going on?" Wood asked as he joined us.

"Why's that first year taking pictures ? I don't like it. He could be a Slytherin spy, trying to find out about our new training program." Wood was glaring suspiciously at Colin.

"He's a Gryffindor." Harry and I both said quickly.

"And the Slytherins don't need a spy Oliver." George sighed as he flew next to me, crossing his arms as he glared at the end of the pitch.

"What makes you say that?" Wood asked, not quite as friendly as he could have sounded.

"They're here in person." I pointed to where George was looking.

The Slytherin team was walking onto the field.

"I don't believe it!" Wood hissed. "I booked the field for today! We'll see about this!"

Wood flew down to meet them and I lazily followed with the boys after me.

"Flint!" Wood bellowed as he landed. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!"

The rest of the team landed and faced off with Slytherin team. I floated lazily above everyone.

"Plenty of room for all of us, Wood." Flint was a monster of a boy.

I did not like the look of him.

"But I booked the field!" Wood was positively in a rage.

"Ah, but I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape. _'I, Professor Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker.' "_

"You've got a new Seeker?" Wood said under me.

 _'Draco?'_ I cocked my head at the familiar blonde who was smirking up at me.

"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" Fred asked as I landed on the ground finally.

"He sure is. And it looks like he bought his way onto the team with those fancy brooms." I cocked my hip to the side.

Malfoy glared at me but Flint didn't seem to notice what I said.

"Very latest model. Only came out last month. I believe it outstrips the old Two Thousand series by a considerable amount. As for the old Cleansweeps-" Flint turned his nasty smile to the Weasley twins.

I took a step closer to them and returned Flint's smile with a glare.

"-sweeps the board with them."

I rolled my eyes but before I could say anything Flint was once again opening his mouth.

"Oh look, a field invasion."

We all turned around to see Ron and Hermione coming to join us. George gently pulled my arm closer to him and I let myself get pulled to his side.

"What's happening?" Ron asked as soon as he reached us. "Why aren't you playing? And what's _he_ doing here?"

"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker Weasley." Malfoy was not shy with how smug he was being. "Everyone's been admiring the brooms my father's bought our team."

Ron gaped at the broomsticks presented before us. I leaned my shoulder against George and he put his arm around my shoulder, but I could feel the shift. Something was different between us.

"Good, aren't they?" Malfoy was smooth in how he spoke to us. "But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives, I expect a museum would bid for them."

The Slytherin team started to howl with laughter. George's fingers stiffened into my shoulder and I put my hand against his stomach. He rubbed my shoulder when he realized what was happening.

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to _buy_ their way in." Hermione cut in sharply.

" _We_ got in on pure talent." I stepped in.

Malfoy's smug look flickered and he sneered at Hermione and I.

"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudbloods." Malfoy spat.

I didn't understand what had happened, but when Flint dragged Malfoy behind him, George had pushed me back and he leapt with Fred towards Malfoy.

"Wait!" I grabbed the back of George's uniform.

 _"How dare you!"_ Alicia shrieked.

"You'll pay for that one Malfoy!" Ron had his wand pointed under Flint at Malfoy.

Before I could do anything else, there was a loud bang and Ron was reeling backward on the grass.

"Ron!" I shouted and let George go.

Hermione followed me as I sat Ron up and patted his back.

"Ron! Ron are you all right?" Hermione was squealing.

Ron opened his mouth, but he didn't say a word. Slugs dribbled out of his mouth and onto the ground.

"Oh no." I said as Ron started coughing.

The Slytherin's were all howling in laughter as the Gryffindor were standing in a circle around us. None of them wanted to touch Ron.

"We'd better get him to Hagrid's, it's nearest." Harry told me as we picked Ron up.

"What happened Harry? What happened? Is he ill? But you can cure him can't you?" Colin had joined us and his camera was clicking away.

"Oooh." Colin was fascinated. "Can you hold him still Harry?"

"Get out of the way Colin!" Harry was angry.

Between the two of us we managed to get him out of the stadium and to Hagrid's hut.

"Nearly there Ron." Hermione was saying to Ron as Harry and I helped Ron carry himself.

Not even twenty feet of being within Hagrid's cabin, Lockhart emerged from the front door. I gave an irritated sigh as Harry and I pulled Ron behind a nearby bush. Thankfully Hermione followed right behind us.

"It's a simple matter if you know what you're doing!" Lockhart was saying loudly as he walked out and back to the school. "If you need help, you know where I am! I'll let you have a copy of my book. I'm surprised you haven't already got one - I'll sign one tonight and send it over. Well, good-bye!"

I practically pushed Harry into the bush so that Lockhart wouldn't see him when he walked by, but thankfully when Lockhart saw me he kept walking. As soon as I knew he wouldn't turn back around, I pulled on Harry's arm and we got Ron up Hagrid's steps. Hermione was kind enough to knock on the door for us.

Hagrid opened the door and his grumpy expression lit up when he saw us.

"Bin wonderin' when yeh'd come ter see me - come in, come in - thought yeh mighta bin Professor Lockhart back again -" Hagrid beckoned for us to come in.

Harry quickly explained the situation as we sat Ron down on a chair.

"Better out than in," Hagrid said cheerfully as he picked up a large copper basin and put it under Ron just as he coughed up another slug.

"I don't think there's anything to do except wait for it to stop." Hermione was anxiously pacing across the hut.

I nodded my agreement as I rubbed Ron's back. He wasn't looking as green when he first started throwing up.

"That's a difficult curse to work at the best of times, but with a broken wand -" Hermione was wringing her hands.

"What did Lockhart want with you Hagrid?" Harry asked as Fang, Hagrid's boarhound, put his head on Harry's lap and started to slobber on him.

"Givin' me advice on gettin' kelpies out of a well," Hagrid growled as he started to make tea for all of us.

"Like I don' know. An' bangin' on about some banshee he banished. If one word of it was true, I'll eat my kettle."

I looked sharply at Hagrid as Hermione spoke.

"I think you're being a bit unfair. Professor Dumbledore obviously thought he was the best man for the job -" Her voice was higher than it usually was.

"He was the _on'y_ man for the job." Hagrid offered a plate of treacle fudge to us. "An' I mean the on'y one. Gettin' very difficult ter find anyone fer the Dark Arts job. People aren't too keen ter take it on, see. They're startin' ter think it's jinxed. No one's lasted long fer a while now. So tell me," Hagrid changed the subject. "Who was he tryin' ter curse?"

"Malfoy called Hermione and Cassie something - it must've been really bad, because everyone went wild." Harry answered as I pulled my hair out of the ponytail I had it in for practice.

"It _was_ bad." Ron's voice was hoarse as he pulled his head up over the the basin.

"Malfoy called them 'Mudbloods' Hagrid-" He dropped his head back down as fresh slugs made their appearance.

Hagrid's face turned to rage when he heard that.

"He didn'!" Hagrid growled to Hermione since she was closer to him.

"He did." Hermione nodded, "but I don't know what it means. I could tell it was really rude, of course-"

"It's about the most insulting thing he could think of," Ron gasped out once he stopped spitting out slugs for a second. "Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born - you know, non-magic parents. There are some wizards - like Malfoy's family - who think they're better than everyone else because they're what people call pure-blood." Ron paused to burp, a single slug fell out of his mouth.

I internally shivered at the thought of spitting slugs out of myself as he dropped it into the basin.

"I mean, the rest of us know it doesn't make any difference at all. Look at Neville - he's pureblood and he can hardly stand a cauldron the right way up." Ron finished.

"An' they haven't invented a spell our Hermione can' do." Hermione went a brilliant shade of magenta at Hagrid's prideful boast.

"I jus' don' understand why he called yer a mudblood, Cassie?" Hagrid turned to me.

"Um… I met Mr. Malfoy at Flourish and Blott's during the summer, and apparently Malfoy talks about us. So when I introduced myself Mr. Malfoy was going on about how I could been from a pure blood family because I was a metamorphmagus." I shrugged through my explanation.

"He was probably just trying to insult me and in his own way say I'm not as special as I think." I finished.

"It's a disgusting thing to call anyone." Ron wiped his brow with a shaking hand. "Dirty blood, see. Common blood. It's ridiculous. Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn't married Muggles we'd've died out."

Ron blanched and dropped his head back into the basin. I patted his back as he heaved again.

"Well, I don' blame yeh fer tryin' ter curse him Ron." Hagrid said loudly so that he could be heard over the thuds of the slugs Ron was spewing. "Bu' maybe it was a good thing yer wand backfired. 'Spect Lucius Malfoy would've come marchin' up ter school if yeh'd curse his son. Least yer not in trouble."

I watched Harry struggle to say something, but his teeth were stuck together by a treacle fudge.

"Harry!" Hagrid said abruptly, "gotta bone to pick with yeh. I've heard you've bin givin' out signed photos. How come I haven't got one?"

I covered my mouth to try to muffle my laughter but Harry just glared at me.

"I have _not_ been giving out signed photos. If Lockhart's still spreading that around-" Harry was hot with a sudden anger and I just kept giggling.

Harry stopped his rant when he saw Hagrid was laughing.

"I'm on'y jokin'," Hagrid patted Harry on the back as he winked at me. "I knew yeh hadn't really. I told Lockhart yeh didn' need teh. Yer more famous than him without tryin'."

"Bet he didn't like that." I said once I stopped laughing.

"Don' think he did." Hagrid was smiling. "An' then I told him I'd never read one o' his book an' he decided to go. Treacle fudge Ron?" Hagrid gestured to the plate of fudge that I hadn't touched.

"No thanks, better not risk it." Ron shook his head weakly.

"Come an' see what I've bin growing." Hagrid stood up as Harry and Hermione finished their tea.

I hadn't touched mine since my stomach was not liking the smell of it. I helped Ron stand up as we walked out of the hut and around to the garden Hagrid had. In the garden were a dozen pumpkins, and they were HUGE.

"Gettin' on well, aren't they?" Hagrid beamed happily at his gardens. "Fer the Halloween feast... should be big enough by then."

"What've you been feeding them?" Harry asked as I walked over to one to inspect it.

"Well, I've bin givin' them - yeh know - a bit o' help.-" Hagrid answered behind me.

"They look amazing!" I said as I stood up to walk back to them.

"An Engorgement Charm, I suppose?" Hermione crossed her arms, but her face was a mixture of disapproval and amusement. "Well, you've done a good job on them."

"That's what yer little sister said," Hagrid nodded to Ron.

"Met her jus' yesterday." His beard twitched as he looked at Harry.

"Said she was jus' lookin' round the grounds, but I reckon she was hopin' she might run inter somone else at my house. If yeh ask me, _she_ wouldn' say no ter a signed-"

"Oh, shut up." Harry rolled his eyes.

Ron and I snorted with laughter, but Ron sprayed the ground with slugs.

"Watch it!" Hagrid was quick to pick Ron up and move him away from his pumpkins.

"I hate to cut this short, but we should go up for lunch. Harry and I haven't had a full meal yet today." I said as we exited the garden.

"Alrigh' come and visit again!" Hagrid waved as we walked towards the castle.

We walked over the grounds, Ron would give a hiccup and sometimes a slug would come out of his mouth. We hadn't even crossed through the Entrance Hall when-

"There you are, Potter - Weasley - Zwart." McGonagall's voice rang through the entrance hall.

"You will be doing your detentions this evening." She said when she made it over to us.

"What're we doing, Professor?" Ron suppressed a nervous burp.

" _You_ will be polishing the silver in in the trophy room with Mr. Filch. And no magic Weasley - elbow grease." McGonagall told Ron.

 _'That is not a good idea.'_ I thought nervously as Ron and I shared a look.

"Zwart will be serving her detention with Mr. Weasley." McGonagall had a slight twinkle in her eye and so I winked at her.

"And you, Potter, will be helping Professor Lockhart answer his fan mail." McGonagall did not look pleased when she said that.

"Oh n - Professor, can't I go and do the trophy room too?" Harry groaned.

"Certainly not." McGonagall raised her eyebrows. "Professor Lockhart requested you particularly. Eight o'clock sharp."

Harry and Ron slouched into the Great Hall. Hermione had the _well-you-did-break-the-rules_ expression on her face.

"Filch'll have us there all night." Ron said heavily as he tried to drink some water. "No magic! There must be about a hundred cups in that room. I'm no good at Muggle cleaning."

I just ate my shepard's pie in silence, not wanting to interrupt Ron's complaining.

"I'd swap anytime." Harry sighed as he played with his food. "I've had loads of practice with the Dursleys. Answering Lockhart's fan mail… he'll be a nightmare…"

"At least Ron won't be alone, you can do the small one's and I can do the big ones. It'll be easier for you to clean with your condition." I pointed my fork at Ron.

"That's true." Ron nodded.

The rest of the afternoon dragged on. When it finally came time, Ron and I seperated from Harry and walked together to the trophy room. He still had some random hiccups but now it was mostly just slime coming out of his mouth rather than a bunch of slugs.

"There you are. No magic. Get to cleaning!" Filch was short with us.

He handed us polish and rags.

"Ron, start on the left side. I'll start on the right and I'll do the big ones, just focus on the small ones. And whoever finishes up first helps the other one." I pointed to left side of the room.

The left side of the room had most of the small trophies and I wanted to try to get through what I could. He nodded, not wanting to hiccup or anything, and we got started.

I don't know how long we were there for. But Ron was helping me clean the Quidditch cup since it was the biggest trophy, and he had a slug attack. I tried to keep my irritated sigh to myself, but Ron looked at me with guilt in his face.

"Sorry." We both said as we started to clean the Quidditch cup once again.

I was falling asleep as Ron and I nursed our right arms during our walk up to common room.

"Go up to bed Cassie." Ron pushed my back towards the girls common room.

I hadn't even noticed we made it through the portrait hole I was so exhausted.

"G'nt Rwon." I mumbled as I took my time going up their stairs.

"Good night Cassie." He chuckled.

When I finally made it to my bed, I took off my cloak and skirt and I didn't even care if my underwear was on display. I fell right asleep.

* * *

The rest of the month was uneventful. Harry shared with us how he had heard a voice coming from the walls of the castle as he came back to the common room from detention. I hadn't heard anything and since he didn't hear anything more about it we shrugged it off.

We went to class, I was on better behavior with Lockhart, but I still hated that we talked about him and how we weren't learning how to defend ourselves from the Dark Arts. Quidditch practices were also taking up our time. Wood definitely wanted to win what matches we could, and George and Fred came back and told us that they could only see green blurs when they spied on the Slytherin training. I told them that the broom is only as good as the rider, and I would point out that they are the best beaters and they only have Cleansweep Fives. They lightly blushed but would thank me.

After one particular unhappy practice, Harry and I were soaked with mud and water as we squelched along the deserted corridor.

"I hope Hermione has hot cocoa ready for us." I shivered next to Harry.

Harry nodded in agreement as Sir Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor Tower, floated by us and started to stare morosely out of a window.

"...don't fulfill their requirements...half an inch, if that…" He was muttering to himself.

"Hello Nick." Harry greeted.

"Hello, hello." Nick was startled by us.

He was wearing a plumed hat on his long curly hair. He had on a tunic that had a ruffled collar, concealing the fact his neck was almost completely severed. Even though he was as pale as smoke, he still had a faint trace of color that you could just barely tell was there.

"You look trouble, young Potter." Nick folded a letter and tucked it into his doublet.

Harry told Hermione and I about what he heard while he was serving detention with Lockhart. A voice saying it wanted to kill…

"So do you." Harry nodded to the ghost.

"Ah, a matter of no importance… It's not as though I really wanted to join… Thought I'd apply, but apparently I don't 'fulfill requirements'-" Nick waved an elegant hand around, and even though he tried to come off indifferent his tone had some bitterness in it.

"But you would think, wouldn't you," he suddenly had fury in his voice and produced the letter he had just put away, "that getting hit forty-five times in the neck with a blunt axe would qualify you to join the Headless Hunt."

"Oh, uh, yes." Harry and I both nodded in agreement.

"I mean, nobody wishes more than I do that it had all been quick and clean, and my head had come off properly, I mean, it would have saved me a great deal of pain and ridicule. However-"

Sir Nick was shaking the letter furiously as he read;

 _" 'We can only accept huntsmen whose heads have parted company with their bodies. You will appreciate that it would be impossible otherwise for members to participate in hunt activities such as Horseback Head-Juggling and Head Polo. It is with the greatest regret, therefore, that I must inform you that you do not fulfill our requirements. With very best wishes, Sir Patrick Delaney-Podmore.' "_

Harry and I just looked at each other nervously. I was shivering in my shoes and trying to keep my teeth from chattering.

"Half an inch of skin and sinew holding my neck on, Harry! Most people would think that's good and beheaded, but oh, no, it's not enough for Sir Properly Decapitated-Podmore."

I stifled a giggle at that ridiculous name.

"So - what's bother you? Anything I can do?" Sir Nick asked once he had finished his rant.

"No." Harry shook his head.

"Not unless you know where we can get seven free Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones for our match against Sly-" My reply was cut short when I was interrupted by a mewling around Harry's ankles.

Looking down, I saw Mrs. Norris weaving her way around Harry's ankles before coming over to me with a hiss.

"You'd better get out of here, Harry, Cassie." Nick said quickly as he looked down one way of the corridor. "Filch isn't in a good mood - he's got the flu and some third years accidentally plastered frog brains all over the ceiling in dungeon five. He's been cleaning all morning and if he sees you dripping mud all over the place-"

"Right." Harry nodded.

"Gonna go." I nodded as well.

Before we could even move, the tapestry to our right moved and Filch showed up. He took one look at Harry and I and his eyes blazed alive.

"Filth! Mess and muck everywhere! I've had enough of it, I tell you! Follow me Potter, Zwart!" He shouted.

We waved good-bye to Sir Nick and made our way after Filch, leaving mud and water after us. I've never been in Filch's office before, I've always tried to avoid it. But since I was here I did take a look around. There was no windows in his small office. There was an oil lamp hanging from the ceiling that was the only source of light. Along the walls were wooden filing cabinets. I noticed that George and Fred had an entire drawer to themselves. Behind his desk on the wall was a well polished set of chains and manacles.

I don't know if it was because I was cold, or the thought of me being in those chains caused me to shiver. But I did. Harry pushed himself into me and I nodded gratefully. I had gone in the other day to get Snape to redo the spell he cast for my arm, and I was slightly regretting it in that moment.

Filch picked up a quill and tried to find a blank piece of parchment, "dung … great sizzling dragon bogies … frog brains … rat intestines … I've had enough of it … make an example … where's the form … yes… " Filch was muttering under his breath.

He found a large roll of parchment and ripped it into two pages.

" _Names_ … Cassiopeia Zwart … Harry Potter. _Crime_ …"

"It was only a bit a mud!" I cried out.

"It's only a bit of mud to you, girl, but to me it's an extra hour scrubbing!" Filch shouted, a drip of snot shaking unpleasantly on the tip of his nose. " _Crime_ … befouling the castle … _suggested sentence_ …"

Harry and I both looked at each other and we shook our heads together. We decided to stay in the office and not risk getting into any further trouble. I sat down on the moth-eaten chair Filch had in front of his desk. Harry walked around and looked at the different drawers.

Filch glared at us and I shrank even further into Harry. Just as Filch put the quill back to the paper there was a huge BANG! On the ceiling above us.

"PEEVES!" Filch shouted, he threw down his quill and stood up. "I'll have you this time!" He left his office.

A glossy purple envelope was on the desk and it caught my eye. I looked at Harry who wasn't paying attention to me. So I grabbed it.

"Listen to this.

 _'Kwikspell_

 _A Correspondence Course in Beginner's Magic'._ "

"Kwikspell?" Harry asked as I opened up the envelope and thumbed through the papers.

 _" 'Feel out of step in the world of modern magic? Find yourself making excuses not to perform simple spells? Ever been taunted for your woeful wand work?_

 _There is an answer!_

 _Kwikspell is an all-new, fail-safe, quick-result, easy-learn course. Hundreds of witches and wizards have benefited from the Kwikspell method!' "_ I read out loud.

 _" 'Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes:_

 _"I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke! Now, after a Kwikspell course, I am the center of attention at parties and friends beg for the recipe of my Scintillation Solution!"_

 _Warlock D.J. Prod of Didsbury says:_

 _"My wife used to sneer at my feeble charms, but one month into your fabulous Kwikspell course and I succeeded in turning her into a yak!_

 _Thank you, Kwikspell!" "_ Harry and I shared a look.

"Fascinating." Harry said as he also thumbed through the envelope's pages.

"Why does Filch have a Kwikspell course?" I asked.

"Is he not that good with magic?" Harry asked as well.

"We didn't get to ask anything else. I heard Filch hobbling down the corridor and I tried to stuff the pages back into the envelope and I threw it on the table. Harry stood next to my chair and tried to look as innocent as I did.

"That vanishing cabinet was extremely valuable!" Filch was scratching Mrs. Norris' cheek. "We'll have Peeves out this time, my sweet -" He stopped and his eyes first went to Harry then to me, and then to the envelope.

I had thrown it to far.

"Have you - did you read -?" He sputtered, his cheeks growing an ugly purple.

"No." Harry and I both lied.

"If I thought you'd read my private - not that it's mine - for a friend - be that as it may - however -" Filch was sputtering and I was concerned.

"Very well - go - and breathe a word - not that - however, if you didn't read - go now, - I have to write up Peeves' report - go -"

Harry was quick to grab my hand and he pulled me out of Filch's office. I gladly followed him without a second look back. We made it up to where Filch caught us when Sir Nick's voice called behind us.

"Harry! Cassie! Did it work?" Sir Nick called.

We turned to face where his voice was coming from, and behind him was a black-and-gold cabinet that had been dropped to the ground.

"I persuaded Peeves to crash it right over Filch's office. Thought it might distract him -" Sir Nick explained eagerly.

"Was that you?" Harry had gratitude in his voice and relief in his face.

"It worked brilliantly!" I smiled at the ghost.

"Thank you so much!" I said as Harry and I started to walk back to the common room.

I pulled my hand away from his and crossed my arms over my chest. I was warmer, but still shivering.

"I wish there was something I could do for you about the Headless Hunt." Harry said as Sir Nick floated alongside us.

Sir Nick suddenly stopped and Harry walked through him. I managed to avoid doing so by side stepping.

"But there _is_ something you could do for me," Sir Nick said thoughtfully. "Harry - would I be asking too much - but no, you wouldn't want -"

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"Well, this Halloween will be my five hundredth death day." Sir Nick drew himself up and started to look dignified.

 _'Five hundredth?'_ I gaped at him.

"Oh, right?" Harry looked at me and I just shrugged at him.

"I'm holding a party down in one of the roomier dungeons. Friends will be coming from all over the country. It would be such an _honor_ if you would attend. Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger would be most welcome too, and of course you Cassie. But I daresay you'd rather go to the school feast!"

The way Sir Nick looked at us, I shook my head slowly to Harry.

"No, I'll come-" Harry answered quickly.

"My dear boy!" Sir Nick clapped his hands together and turned to look at me.

"I'll be there too." I gave more of a grimace than a smile to Sir Nick.

"How splendid! Harry Potter at my death day party! And do you think you could possibly mention to Sir Patrick how very frightening and impressive you find me?" Sir Nick beamed at the both of us.

"Of course." Harry and I nodded together.

"We better get going. We should get out of these wet clothes." I gently wrapped my hand around Harry's elbow and pulled him away from Sir Nick.

"Of course, of course. I will look forward to you attending!" Sir Nick waved and floated away.

"This should be interesting." I said as we finally made it to the Gryffindor Tower.

Harry nodded as the door opened. The common room was filled with students and Hermione and Ron just happened to have saved spots for us by the fire.

"I'm going to go take a shower and change, I will be right back." I told my friends as I hurried up the girls staircase.

I showered as fast as I could and brushed my hair after I had gotten out. I put on my warmest pair of pajamas and the sweater Mrs. Weasley made for me last year. I also put on a pair of socks and joined my friends down by the fireplace. Hermione handed me a hot cup of cocoa which I thanked her for as I sat by the fire.

"A death day party?" Hermione asked, standing up and started to braid my hair.

I don't know where she learned to do it, with her being an only child. But in this moment I appreciated that she knew how to do it.

"I bet there aren't many living people who can say they've been to one of those - it'll be fascinating!" Hermione said thoughtfully as she finished my braid.

"Why would anyone want to celebrate the day they died?" Ron grumbled into his Potions homework.

I pulled out a blank parchment paper from Hermione's pile and started to do my own Potions homework as well, "sounds depressing to me." I said.

Suddenly there was a burst of sparks and bangs and a poor salamander whizzed by us. George and Fred had 'rescued' the fire creature from a Care of Magical Creatures class. Percy started bellowing at the twins and everyone was laughing. I grabbed the salamander from the air and put the poor thing in the fireplace. I made a mental note to talk to Professor McGonagall or Grumblyplank about it.

I finished my Potion's essay and was falling asleep as I had gotten started on my Charms essay. Ron would sometimes nudge me as I would nod off. I got about half way through the essay when Harry shook me awake.

"I'm going to bed." I yawned, stretching my arms above my head.

"That's a good idea. I think we should all go to bed." Hermione nodded as she started to gather her books and homework.

I nodded and bid the boys goodnight as Hermione and I carried our stuff to our dormitory. I put all my homework on the chair next to my bed and got under my covers. Ariel had been staying close to the Gryffindor Tower so far this year, and even though Hector Smith wasn't around anymore, I really did appreciate her staying close.

* * *

Halloween had arrived and I was eating as much as I could at lunch, and even going as far as to put some rolls in my bag for later. I didn't trust a death day party to have food for living people.

"A promise is a promise," Hermione was telling Harry when he told us he wished he didn't promise Sir Nick we'd go to his death day party.

"You _said_ you'd go to the death day party." Hermione shrugged.

"He knows Hermione, lay off of him." I sighed as I added another roll to my growing pile in my book bag.

She sniffed at me and went back to eating her lunch.

At seven o'clock, all four of us walked past the doorway to the Great Hall and down to the dungeons. The Great Hall was packed with all the students enjoying the feast and I caught a wonderful smell of wonderfully cooked meat and I gave a small sigh. Ron must have heard me because he nodded in agreement.

The passageway leading to Sir Nick's party was lined with candles, but they were strange. They were long and thin in jet black tapers. The flames were a bright blue and made our faces look ghostly to each other. With each step we took the air around us got colder. I drew my robes tighter around me and stepped closer to Ron who was walking next to me.

He was starting to shiver as well so he didn't look at me when I was pushing against his arm. I had just gone to Snape the other day as well when my arm had started to burn again. So my arm was still slightly warmer than it should be and Ron was pushing against it.

"Is that supposed to be _music_?" Ron whispered as we heard something equivalent to nails on a chalkboard.

I shrugged as we turned a corner and Sir Nick was floating in a doorway hung with black velvet drapes.

"My dear friends," his tone was mournful. "Welcome, welcome… so pleased you could come…"

He swept off his plumed hat and bowed as we walked inside. Inside the dungeon, hanging from the ceiling was a chandelier with the same midnight-blue flames on black candles. Hundred of pearly-white ghosts were waltzing to the dreadful music coming from thirty musical saws. As we breathed, our breath came out in a mist.

"Shall we take a look around?" Harry asked as he shuffled from foot to foot.

I nodded and started to lead everyone on the edge of the dance floor.

"Careful no to walk through anyone." Ron said nervously behind me.

I nodded in agreement as we walked past several different groups. The first group was of gloomy nuns, a ragged man wearing chains, and the Fat Friar. The Fat Friar was the friendly Hufflepuff ghost. He was talking to a knight with an arrow sticking out of his forehead. In a corner of the room was the Bloody Baron, he was the Slytherin ghost and no one seem to know how he got the nickname.

"Oh, no," Hermione pulled on the back of my robes.

"Go back. Go back!" I tried to turn Harry and Ron around.

"What's going on?" Ron turned his head around to look at what we were seeing.

"It's Moaning Myrtle-" I tried to pull Ron away from the sniveling ghost.

"Who?" Harry asked as we walked away.

"She haunts one of the toilets in the girls' bathroom on the first floor." Hermione explained quietly.

"She haunts a _toilet_?" Harry's eyes were wide as I nodded.

"It's been out-of-order all year because she keeps having tantrums and flooding the place. I never went in there anyway if I could avoid it; it's awful trying to have a pee with her wailing at you-" Hermione explained.

I shivered at the memory of when I tried to make a potion in that bathroom last year. The sink for some reason gave me a bad feeling in my stomach.

"Look, food!" Ron pointed to the other side of dungeon.

We approached it eagerly, but then we stopped horrified at the sight. Large, rotten fish were laid on beautiful silver platters; cakes were burnt; maggoty haggis, a slave of cheese covered in fuzzy green mold, and a gray cake in the shape of a tombstone that read in tar-like icing,

 _Sir Nicholas De Mimsy-Porpington_

 _Died 31st October 1492_

I nudged Harry's shoulder and pointed at a portly ghost. We both watched in amazement as he crouched low and walked through the food table, his mouth wide open.

"Can you taste it if you walk through it?" Harry asked.

"Almost." The ghost sadly and then drifted away.

"I expect they've let it rot to give it a stronger flavor." Hermione said as she pinched her nose.

"Can we move? I feel sick." Ron said.

We walked away and I pulled out four rolls from my pockets. I handed one to each of my friends and we started to tear them apart with our hands.

"Thank you Cassie." Harry muttered to me.

I nodded to him as I put a piece of the roll in my mouth and savored the taste of it.

Just as we had started to walk away from the disgusting food table, a man wearing a bright orange hat, a revolving bow tie, and a devilish grin swooped in front of us.

"Hello Peeves." Harry greeted cautiously.

"Nibbles?" He asked sweetly, holding a bowl of moldy peanuts to us.

"No thanks." Hermione shook her head in response.

"Heard you talking about poor Myrtle." Peeves grinned as he danced. "Rude you was about poor Myrtle."

He took a deep breath and bellowed, "OY! MYRTLE!"

"Peeves no! Don't tell her what I said, she'll be really upset," Hermione whispered frantically to the poltergeist.

"Hello Myrtle." I interrupted Hermione's whispers as the ghost came up to us.

"What?" She asked sulkily.

"How are you Myrtle?" Hermione was glaring at Peeves. "It's nice to see you out of the toilet."

Myrtle only sniffed in response. I went to go say something but as soon as I opened my mouth,

"Miss Granger was just talking about you-" Peeves was hovering over Myrtle's head.

Myrtle eyed Hermione suspiciously, "you're making fun of me." She said as silver tears started to form in her small eyes.

"No - honestly - she was saying how nice you looked." I stepped forward to try to diffuse the situation.

"Oh yeah-" Harry nodded.

"She did-" Ron rubbed his rib cage where Hermione had elbowed him.

"Don't lie to me," Myrtle gasped as her tears started to fall. "D'you think I don't know what people call me behind my back? Fat Myrtle! Ugly Myrtle! Miserable, moaning, moping Myrtle!"

"You've forgotten pimply!" Peeves hissed in the poor ghost's ear.

Moaning Myrtle burst into sobs and fled the dungeon, Peeves throwing moldy peanuts at her and shouting _"Pimply! Pimply!"_

"Oh dear." Hermione said sadly.

"Oh dear." I repeated with a nod.

"Enjoying yourselves?" SIr Nick asked as he floated towards us.

"Yes we are." I lied for us.

"Not a bad turnout," Sir Nick had his chest puffed out proudly. "The Wailing Widow came all the way up from Kent… It's nearly time for my speech, I'd better go and warn the orchestra…"

However, the orchestra had already stopped playing and everyone fell silent. Excitement grew in the room as a hunting horn sounded.

"Oh, here we go." Sir Nick said bitterly to us.

On the other side of the dungeon, a dozen ghost horses burst through a wall. A dozen horseman on each of the horses. All the ghosts started to clap, and Harry was starting to clap too but stopped when Sir Nick gave him a look.

We watched as the horses galloped to the middle of the floor and halted, rearing and plunging in good show. At the front of the group was a huge ghost who was holding his bearded head under his arm, and he was blowing the horn as his hand held it to his mouth. He leapt down from his horse and lifted his head.

I coughed as I tried to keep from laughing as he did so.

"Nick!" The head roared. "How are you? Head still hanging in there?" He asked as he put his head on his neck.

"Welcome Patrick." Sir Nick said stiffly.

"Live 'uns!" Sir Patrick spotted us and gave a fake jump of astonishment, making his head fall off.

The crowd howled with laughter and I hid behind Ron's back to cover my coughing fit.

"Very amusing." Sir Nick muttered darkly.

"Don't mind Nick!" Sir Patrick shouted from the floor. "Still upset we won't let him join the Hunt! But I mean to say - look at the fellow -"

"I think Nick's very - frightening and - er -" Harry tried to jump in.

"Ha!" Sir Patrick guffawed. "Bet he asked you to say that!'

"If I could have everyone's attention, it's time for my speech!" Sir Nick said loudly as he walked towards the podium and an icy blue spotlight hit him.

"My late lamented lords, ladies, and gentlemen, it is my great sorrow…" I wasn't paying attention to him.

The Headless Hunt had started a game of Head Hockey and all the ghosts were watching them too.

"I can't stand much more of this." Ron chattered through his teeth as the orchestra sounded back into action.

"Let's go." Harry agreed.

I followed my friends out the door. Not wanting to leave one of them behind.

"Pudding might not be finished yet." Ron said hopefully as we left the passageway of candles and headed towards the entrance hall.

I'm not sure what happened next, but Harry stumbled and put his hand against the wall and concentrated on the floor. I looked down and didn't see anything.

"Harry." I put my hand on his shoulder.

"What are you -" Hermione started to ask.

"It's that voice again - shut up a minute -"

Hermione, Ron and I all looked at each other.

"Listen!" Harry and grabbed my shoulder and shook it lightly.

I shook my head to the other two as I only heard dripping and the wind whispering around the halls in the castle.

"This way." Harry said before he ran up the stairs into the entrance hall.

However, he didn't run into the Great Hall. He ran up the marble staircase to the first floor.

"Harry, what're we -" Hermione tried to asked a question.

"SHH!" Harry hushed.

I started to get a bad feeling about this and looked back at Hermione and Ron.

"It's going to kill someone!" Harry grabbed my hand and pulled me up the next flight of stairs. I ran after him all through the second floor. We finally stopped at the corner of the last deserted passage.

"Harry, _what_ was that all about?" Ron panted, wiping sweat off his brow. "I couldn't hear anything…"

Hermione suddenly gasped and pointed down the corridor, _"Look!"_

My stomach dropped at the sight of something shining on the wall. We approached the wall, Harry taking the lead, Ron and I off to the sides just behind him and Hermione several steps behind Harry. We formed a diamond shape without thinking about it.

On the wall, in crimson blood… Was a horrifying message.

 ** _THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED._**

 ** _ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE._**

"What's that thing - hanging underneath?" Ron pointed, a slight quiver in his voice.

Harry almost slipped on a puddle of water on the floor. Ron grabbed him and I inched closer to the message and gave a gasp. I threw my hand over my mouth to keep from dry-heaving.

"It's Mrs. Norris." I whispered.

"Let's get out of here." Ron started to pull me away.

"Shouldn't we try and help -" Harry began.

"Trust me." Ron said. "We don't want to be found here."

But soon the corridor was alive with the sound of feet walking and voices happily talking over each other. I took the opportunity to try to get Mrs. Norris down from the torch bracket she was tied too.

The noise fell down as I was doing so and I tried not to focus on the sudden quiet. Luckily I didn't have too.

"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" Malfoy shouted through the crowd.

"What's going on here? What's going on?" Mr. Filch shouted behind me.

I felt tears started to prick in my eyes as I struggled to untie Mrs. Norris' tail.

"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" Mr. Filch shrieked.

I felt a hand roughly grip my shoulder and I was turned around. I saw Filch's angry face and he shouted, spit hitting my face, _"You!"_ He screeched in my ears. " _You!_ You've murdered my cat!"

"I was trying to get-" I tried to defend myself.

"You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll-" Mr. Filch raised a hand and I flinched as the school gasped.

 _"Argus!"_

I was let go and when I opened my eyes Harry had reached me and was pulling me towards him and our friends.

"Are you okay?" He whispered to me.

I shook my head at him. Dumbledore had detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket within seconds.

"Come with me Argus. You too, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, Miss Zwart." Dumbledore was holding Mrs. Norris in his arms.

"My office is nearest, Headmaster - just upstairs - please feel free -" Lockhart had stepped forward.

"Thank you Gilderoy." Dumbledore nodded and headed towards the stairs.

The crowd parted to let us through. I tried to hide but couldn't succeed as they started to whisper. McGonagall and Snape had followed Dumbledore, as had Lockhart.

As we entered Lockhart's office, there was a flurry of noise on the walls. I scrunched my nose in disgust as I watch portraits of Lockhart disappear between the frames, their hair in rollers.

Lockhart had lit some candles on his desk and Dumbledore put Mrs. Norris on the surface and began to examine her.

"I was trying to get her down, I didn't put her up there." I said softly.

Filch snarled at me and I flinched away from him.

"It was definitely a curse that killed her - probably the Transmogrifian Torture - I've seen it used many times, so unlucky I wasn't there, I know the very countercurse that would have saved her…" Lockhart was trying to sound important and all knowing.

All it did was make me angry and my hair started to show it.

"Not now Cassie." Harry whispered in my ear.

I nodded and tried to turn my hair back to the sunrise pink I was starting to like.

Dumbledore started to mutter incantations under his breath and poked Mrs. Norris with his wand. Nothing seemed to be working.

"...I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadogou," Lockhart continued to prattle on, "a series of attacks, the full story is in my autobiography, I was able to provide the townsfolk with various amulets, which cleared the matter up at once…"

"She's not dead, Argus." Dumbledore straightened up.

I didn't realize how stiff I was until I relaxed into Harry.

"Not dead?" FIlch choked as he looked at Mrs. Norris through his fingers that were against his face. "But why's she all - stiff and frozen?"

"She has been Petrified, but how I cannot say…" Dumbledore said softly to the caretaker.

 _"Ask them!"_ Filch shrieked as he pointed to Harry and I.

"No second year could have done this," Dumbledore was firm. "It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced-"

"They did it, they did it!" Filch spat at us. "You saw what they wrote on the wall! He found - in my office - she knows I'm a -I'm a-" Filch's face made the worst expressions.

"They know I'm a Squib!" He finally got out.

"I never _touched_ Mrs. Norris!" Harry defended himself.

"I was trying to get her _off_!" I defended myself as well.

"We don't even know what a Squib _is_." Harry pointed to us as I nodded in agreement.

"Rubbish!" Filch spat. "He saw my Kwikspell letter!"

"If I might speak, Headmaster." Snape said from the shadows.

"Potter and his friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time," a sneer was curing at his mouth as though he doubted what he was saying. "But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why was he in the upstairs corridor at all? Why wasn't he at the Halloween feast?"

All three of my friends launched into an explanation about the deathday party being held down in the dungeon.

"But why not join the feast afterward?" Snape's eyes glittered in the candlelight. "Why go up to that corridor?"

"Because - because -" Harry stammered.

"Because we were poking around. Wanted to see if there was anything interesting being hidden in the school this year." I said, shrugging my left shoulder.

"And what about supper? I didn't think ghosts provided food fit for living people at their parties." Snape glared towards me.

"We weren't hungry." Ron's stomach gave a huge rumble as I said that.

I closed my eyes and gave a slight huff. When I opened them Snape had a nasty smile on his face.

"I suggest, Headmaster, that Zwart is not being entirely truthful. It might be a good idea if she, and Potter, were deprived of certain privileges until they are ready to tell us the whole story. I personally feel they should be taken off the Gryffindor Quidditch team until they are ready to be honest." Snape sidled up to the candle lit desk.

"Really Severus. I see no reason to stop Ms. Zwart and Mr. Potter from playing Quidditch. This cat wasn't hit over the head with a broomstick. There is no evidence at all that Potter and Zwart have done anything wrong." McGonagall was quick to come our defense.

"Innocent until proven guilty Severus." Dumbledore finally said after searching Harry and I thoughtfully with his stare.

Snape and Filch both looked furious.

"My cat has been Petrified!" Filch's eyes started to pop from his shrieking, "I want to see some _punishment!_ "

"We will be able to cure her, Argus." Dumbledore said with more patience than I had. "Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris."

"I'll make it," Lockhart just had to butt in.

I rolled my eyes.

"I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep -"

"Excuse me," Snape's tone made me shiver. "But I believe I am the Potions master at this school."

I enjoyed Lockhart shuffling in his place uncomfortably as he cleared his throat.

 _'Ha!'_ I sniggered in my head.

"You may go." Dumbledore nodded his head towards us.

"I hope the Mandragora mature quickly." I said with a nod and walked out the door after my friends.

I followed them as they walked up a floor up from Lockhart's office and they entered an empty classroom. I closed the door quietly behind us and put an ear to the crack to listen for any wandering footsteps.

"D'you think I should have told them about the voice I heard?" Harry asked.

"No." Ron was quick to answer. "Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world."

"You do believe me, don't you?" Harry asked.

"I do." I said from my post.

" 'Course I do, but you must admit it's weird." Ron answered.

"I know it's weird. The whole thing's weird. What was that writing about? _'_ _The Chamber Has Been Opened'_ … What's that supposed to mean?" Harry sighed in annoyance.

"You know, it rings a sort of bell, I think someone told me a story about a secret chamber at Hogwart once… might've been Bill…" I turned around and saw Ron had his hand up to his chin thoughtfully.

"What on earth is a Squib?" I asked.

Ron stifled a snigger and I was confused.

"Well - it's not funny really - but as it's Filch." Ron shrugged. "A Squib is someone who was born into a wizarding family but hasn't got any magic powers. Kind of the opposite of Muggle-born wizards, but Squibs are quite unusual. If Filch's trying to learn magic from a Kwikspell course, I reckon he must be a Squib."

"He did admit to being one as well." I said as I put my ear my against the door again.

"It would explain a lot. Like why he hates students so much. He's bitter." Ron finished.

A clock chimed in the castle.

"Midnight, we'd better get to bed before Snape comes along and tries to frame us for something else."

I poked my head through the door and lead my friends up to the common room. I was grateful that no one had stayed up to make sure we had made it back. I didn't want to face George or Fred.

"Oh wait, Cassie are you alright?" Harry asked just before he and I went up the stairs.

"I am, why do you ask?" I tilted my head.

"Filch almost hit you." He said in a deadpan voice.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine. It wouldn't have been the first time I was hit in the face with something." I shrugged.

Harry just gaped at me.

"I'm going off to bed now. Goodnight Harry." I bid him and went all the way up to my room.

I had just made it past the first year dormitory when the door opened.

"Cassie?" Ginny's small voice whispered.

"Yes?" I came back down the stairs.

"Is Mrs. Norris going to be alright?" She asked shyly.

"She will be. She's just Petrified. Dumbledore will have a potion made up for her when an ingredient is mature enough." I explained to red head.

"I feel terrible." She admitted.

The way she said it, my stomach turned and I focused on her features. She had faint dark circles under her eyes, but that could have just been from lack of sleep from studying. She had appeared to have gotten thinner, but Mrs. Weasley wasn't putting thirds onto everyone's plates.

 _'I'll have to keep a closer eye on her.'_ I thought to myself.

"You will be fine." I smiled at the girl.

She nodded to me, but her look told me she didn't believe me. I almost didn't believe myself either.

"You better go to bed, goodnight Cassie." She smiled tiredly at me.

"Goodnight Ginny." I ruffled her hair before quickly stepping up the stairs as she giggled behind me.

Hermione had left a candle lit for me so that I could change into my pajamas without disturbing the other girls. I blew it out before I got into bed and Ariel purred against my chest as I laid on my side.

 _'So much for having an uneventful year.'_ I yawned as I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

 **Shout outs!**

 **Eeyoredessa for following both Treasured Philosopher's Stone and Treasured Chamber of Stone.**

 **UnicornPhoenix for adding this story to your favorite list and for following Treasured Chamber of Secrets.**

 **CMdkelley for adding this story to your favorite list.**

 **SarahL96 for following Treasured Chamber of Secrets.**

 **Review!**

 **UnicornPhoenix: I'm so glad that you're enjoying this! And thank you for the compliment!**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Over the next few days the entire school wouldn't talk about anything else but the attack. I couldn't walk by Filch without him snarling at me, so I tried to avoid him as best as I could. He was always pacing the corridor where the attack happened.

He even tried cleaning the wall, but to no avail. The message stayed glossy and my stomach turned just looking at it. Harry and I have tried snooping around but there was always someone in the corridor whether it be a fellow student, Percy, or Filch.

Sometimes we would see Filch sulking around the rest of the corridor. When he saw us we would all try to avoid him. He's been trying to get as many students as he can in detentions for silly things like "breathing loudly" or "looking happy." I would be miserable without my cat so I was trying to be understanding but he was starting to make me angry.

One day, Harry had been held back in Potions by Snape so Ron, Hermione and I went to the library to try to do some last minute homework. I had already finished my essay for Professor Binns, the only ghost teacher. He wanted a three foot long composition on "The Medieval Assembly of European Wizards." I was keeping it away from Ron since he was doing everything he can to copy off of Hermione.

Hermione had wandered off through the bookshelves looking for a particular book. I took the opportunity to go searching for the Daily Prophet section.

"May I help you?" Madam Pince, the librarian sniffed behind me.

"Yes please. I was wondering if there were any articles featuring a Sirius Black?" I took a step back to give Madam Pince and I some space between us.

Something flashed in her eyes, "why do you want to know about him?" She asked suspiciously.

"I heard his name somewhere and I was curious about him." I lied with a shrug.

She stared at me before opening one of the many cabinets for the Daily Prophet article I had asked for.

"I do not recommend letting that Potter boy find this." She said lowly to me.

I looked up at her in confusion before taking the article she had in her hand.

I had to skim through the side articles before my heart dropped to my stomach.

 _ **'Sirius Black Guilty of Killing James and Lily Potter**_

 _ **On 31 October 1981 Sirius Black, the Secret Keeper of the Potter couple, lead the Dark Lord to their location. After they had been killed he went after Peter Pettigrew. The only thing left of him was a finger! Sirius had also murdered twelve other people with the same curse!**_

 _ **More on Page 2!'**_

There was more to it, but I couldn't bring myself to read anymore. I gave it back to Madam Pince and tried to keep my lunch down.

"Do keep that to yourself." She said as she put the article away.

I nodded my head and walked back to where Ron was. I paused for a second when I saw Harry and Hermione had joined them at the table. I stared at Harry for a second before faking a smile on my face.

"-to read up on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets."

"What's that?" I asked as I joined my friends.

"That's just it. I can't remember." Hermione bit her lip. "And I can't find the story anywhere else-"

"Hermione let me read your composition." Ron desperately checked his watch.

"No, I won't. You've had ten days to finish it." Hermione said with an annoyed look on her face.

"I only need another two inches, come on-" Ron pleaded.

"If it's just two inches, you can borrow mine." I took my parchment and handed it to Ron.

"Thank you!" He quickly started to scribbled the last few sentences of my essay onto his. I barely glanced at Harry and he must have noticed something was wrong. He nudged me as the bell rang.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked the bell rang and Ron handed my essay back to me.

I nodded to him with a smile. I couldn't tell him what I found out…

He walked with me as Ron and Hermione bickered about Ron needing to start getting ahead of his homework.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"I stumbled across a Daily Prophet article that I didn't like. I'll be fine once I get it out of my head." I partially lied, and partially told the truth.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked as we entered the History of Magic classroom.

"Not at the moment, maybe later." I said, that time honestly.

He nodded as he sat down next to me. I got my essay out and ready to be turned in. I then put my bookbag on the desk to make a pillow for my head. Professor Binns didn't really pay attention to us, and Hermione may not approve of my nap time but she did share her notes with me since I share my notes with her.

However, somewhere between being asleep and being awake. I felt the class shift.

"Miss - er -?" I slowly lifted my head in case he was talking to me.

But he wasn't, Hermione had her hand up.

"Granger, Professor. I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione spoke clearly.

I sat up and put my chin in my hand. I was interested in this one.

"My subject is History of Magic." He said, his eyes squinting, "I deal with _facts_ Miss Granger, not myths and legends." He cleared his throat and started to read from his book again.

Hermione stuck her hand back in the air.

"Miss Grant?" He asked.

"Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?" Hermione asked.

Harry and I looked at each and then back to Hermione.

"Well, yes." Binns nodded slowly. "One could argue that I suppose. However, the legend of which you speak is such a very _sensational_ , even _ludicrous_ tale-"

Every student was paying attention to Binns. Not one was sleeping or off in their own world.

"Oh very well." He sighed. "Let me see… the Chamber of Secrets…"

"You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago - the precise date is uncertain - by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school Houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution."

Binns paused, I think he would have liked to stop but everyone was on the edge of their seats.

"For a few years, the founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more _selective_ about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy. After a while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school."

 _'Strange how a thousand years have passed and the Slytherin house still has the same thoughts as now.'_ I thought to myself.

"Reliable historical sources tell us this much. But these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing.

Slytherin, according to legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworth to study magic."

Silence filled the room, but it was an uneasy one.

"The whole thing is arrant nonsense, of course," Binns waved a ghostly hand. "Naturally, the school has been searched for evidence of such a chamber, many times, by the most learned witches and wizards. It does not exist. A tale told to frighten the gullible."

Hermione had her hand back in the air, "Sir, what exactly do you mean by the 'horror within' the Chamber?"

"That is believed to be some sort of monster which the Heir of Slytherin alone can control." Binns said even more dryly than his voice sounded before.

I shared a look with Harry who looked as nervous as I was feeling.

"I tell you the thing does not exist. There is no Chamber and no monster." Binns shuffled his notes.

"But sir, if the Chamber can only be opened by Slytherin's true heir, no one else _would_ be able to find it, would they?" Seamus asked.

I pointed to Seamus while looking at Harry. He nodded in agreement.

"Nonsense, O'Flaherty. If a long succession of Hogwarts headmasters and headmistresses haven't found the thing-" Binns started to sound aggravated at us.

"But Professor," Parvati piped up, "you'd probably have to use Dark Magic to open it-"

"Just because a wizard _doesn't_ use Dark Magic doesn't mean he _can't_ Miss Pennyfeather," Binns snapped.

I giggled at his mispronunciation of the last names he had just called.

"I repeat, if the likes of Dumbledore -"

"But maybe you've got to be related to Slytherin, so Dumbledore couldn't-" Dean tried to say something.

"That will do!" Binns said sharply, giving each student a glare that could shoot daggers.

"It is a myth! It does not exist! There is not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a secret broom cupboard! I regret telling you such a foolish story! We will return, if you please, to _history_ , to solid, believable, _verifiable_ facts!"

Binns started to read from his notes and within five minutes, I was laying my head back down on my makeshift pillow and falling asleep.

* * *

"I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old looney." Ron was telling us as we fought through the corridors to drop off our bags in the common room before lunch.

I was still finding bread crumbs in my bag from Halloween night.

"But I never knew he started all this pure-blood stuff. I wouldn't be in his house if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in Slytherin, I'd've got the train straight back home…" Ron finished.

The way Harry stiffened up next me cause me to look at him. He only shook his head at me so I shrugged it off.

"Hiya Harry!" Colin waved as he came through the crowded corridor.

"Hullo Collin." Harry greeted.

"Harry - Harry - a boy in my class has been saying you're-" Colin tried to talk to his hero, but the flow of the corridor caused him to continue on his walk.

"Bye Harry!" He said just before he had disappeared.

"What's a boy in his class saying?" Hermione asked.

"Probably saying that he's Slytherin's heir." I shrugged.

"People here'll believe anything." Ron said in disgust.

I nodded in agreement and we climbed up the next staircase without too much difficulty.

"D'you _really_ think there's a Chamber of Secrets?" Ron turned to Hermione and asked her.

"I don't know, Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs. Norris and that makes me think that whatever attacked her might not be - well - human." Hermione was frowning.

"We are talking Hogwarts. Hagrid had Fluffy in here last year, and Dumbledore with the Sorcerer's Stone, I'm sure this place is full of all sorts of secrets. Why not a Chamber full of them?" I shrugged as we turned a corner and found ourselves alone in a corridor.

There was the wall that had the message from Halloween on it.

"That's where Filch has been keeping guard." Ron pointed to the chair that was against the wall.

We all took turns looking at each other.

"Can't hurt to have a poke around." Harry suddenly dropped to his knees and started to crawl around.

"Scorch marks!" He exclaimed pointing to spots on the ground.

"Come and look at this!" Hermione was looking at something on the wall.

"What is it?" I asked, walking past Harry.

Hermione pointed to the wall, and I saw one of the strangest things in my life.

There was a line of spiders crawling out a small crack. There was a long silvery thread dangling on the edge, like they had made a little rope to climb.

"Have you seen spiders act like this?" Hermione asked as Harry looked over my shoulder.

"No, have you Ron?" Harry asked as I shook my head.

"Ron?" I turned around and Ron was standing well back from us.

He was shuffling from foot to foot.

"What's up?" Harry asked.

"I - don't - like - spiders." Ron was tense.

"I never knew that. You've used spiders in Potions loads of times…" Hermione looked at Ron in surprise.

"I don't mind them dead, I just don't like the way they move." Ron was looking anywhere but at the window.

Hermione let out a giggle.

"It's not funny." Ron said fiercely. "If you must know, when I was three, Fred turned my - teddy bear into a great big filthy spider because I broke his toy broomstick… You wouldn't like them either if you'd been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs and…" Ron shuddered.

"Remember all that water on the floor? Where did that come from?" Harry was quick to change the subject when he saw Hermione trying not to laugh at Ron.

"Someone's mopped it up." I said as I looked around the floor.

"It was about here." Ron took the opportunity to move away from the window and deeper into the corridor.

"About level with this door." He reached for the door and I grinned.

He pulled his hand back just before he touched the doorknob.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked.

"That's the girls' toilet." Ron said gruffly.

"That's Moaning Myrtle's place, no one's going to be in there." I grinned as I opened the door.

I ignored the _'Out of Order'_ sign and gestured to the boys to follow me. I ignored the pit in my stomach at the one sink that just made me tingle and walked to the end of the stalls.

"Hello, Myrtle. How are you?" I asked the ghost who was floating above the toilet.

"This is a _girls'_ bathroom." She eyed Harry and Ron who were nervously looking around, "They're not _girls_."

"No, but we just wanted to show them what a girls' toilet looked like." I waved my hand.

"Ask her if she saw anything." Harry mouthed to me.

"What are you whispering?" Myrtle stared at Harry.

"Nothing, we wanted to ask-" Harry tried to be quick but it didn't work out.

"I wish people would stop talking behind my back!" Myrtle started to moan. "I do have feelings you know. Even if I _am_ dead-"

"Myrtle, no one wants to upset you, Harry only-" Hermione tried to help.

"No wants to upset me! That's a good one!" Myrtle howled loudly. "My life was nothing but misery at this place and now people come along ruining my death!"

"We wanted to ask you if you've seen anything funny lately." Hermione said quickly while Myrtle took a moment to, well 'breathe'.

"A cat was attacked right outside your front door on Halloween." I added.

"Did you see anyone near here that night?" Harry asked.

"I wasn't paying attention." Myrtle sniffed dramatically. "Peeves upset me so much I came in here and tried to _kill_ myself. Then, of course, I remembered that I'm - that I'm -"

"Already dead." Ron tried to be helpful.

I rolled my eyes and glared at him as Myrtle let out another wail. She rose in the air and dove into a the toilet. She somehow managed to splash water all over us.

"Honestly, that was almost cheerful for Myrtle." Hermione shrugged.

I nodded in agreement, "Come on, let's go." I lead the way out of the bathroom.

Harry had just closed the door, muffling Myrtle's gurgling sobs when,

"RON!" Percy was stopped dead in his tracks at the end of the corridor.

"Uh oh." I looked at Ron with wide eyes while he rolled his at me.

"That's a _girls'_ bathroom!" Percy gasped out. "What were _you_ -?"

"Just having a look around," Ron shrugged, "clues, you know-"

"Get - away - from - there -" Percy swelled up with each stride and I was reminded of Mrs. Weasley. "Don't you _care_ what this looks like? Coming back here while everyone's at dinner -"

"Why shouldn't we be here?" Ron asked hotly, glaring up at his brother. "Listen, we never laid a finger on that cat!"

"That's what I told Ginny, but she still seems to think you're going to be expelled, I've never seen her so upset, crying her eyes out, you might think of _her_ , all the first years are thoroughly over excited by this business -" Percy started to lecture.

" _You_ don't care about Ginny." Ron's ears had turned red. " _You're_ just worried I'm going to mess up your chances of being Head Boy-"

"Five points from Gryffindor!" Percy said through gritted teeth. "And I hope it teaches you a lesson! No more _detective work_ , or I'll write to mum!" He turned around and as he walked away, I noticed the back of his neck was a red as Ron's ears.

"Don't listen to him. It's not like Mrs. Weasley can ground you while you're at school." I nudged Ron's shoulder as Hermione and I linked arms.

"You'd be surprised." Ron grumbled.

* * *

We were working on our Charms essays together and Ron was still angry from earlier that day. He reached for his wand to remove some blotches and he lit his parchment on fire. He slammed his book, _'The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2'_ and I was surprised that Hermione followed his actions.

"Who can it be though?" She asked us quietly as I finished up my paragraph. "Who'd want to frighten all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?"

"Let's think," Ron rolled in eyes and faked puzzlement in his voice. "Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are scum?"

"If you're talking about Malfoy-" Hermione sighed.

Harry and I both just looked at each other as they spoke.

"Of course I am! You heard him - _'You'll be next Mudbloods!'_ \- come on, you've got to look at his foul rat face to know it's him -" Ron threw his hands in front of him as he spoke.

"Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?" Hermione asked skeptical.

"Look at his family," Harry closed his books and I set my quill down. "The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin; he's always boasting about it. They could easily be Slytherin's descendants. His father's definitely evil enough."

"They could have the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries." I shrugged.

"Handing it down from father to son…" Ron nodded in agreement.

"Well, I suppose it's possible…" Hermione said slowly.

"But how do we prove it?" Harry asked darkly.

I shrugged as Harry, Ron and I all looked at each other. When we turned to Hermione, she had a finger under her chin and was in thought.

"There might be a way," She dropped her voice. "Of course, it would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect-"

"If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know, won't you?" Ron said irritably.

"'Mione what is it?" I gave Ron a stank eye and turned back to Hermione.

"All right," Hermione glared coldly to Ron. "What we'd need to do is to get inside the Slytherin common room and ask Malfoy a few questions without him realizing it's us."

"But that's impossible for us!" Harry said.

"Not for Cassie, she could pick any Slytherin to be and just waltz right in there." Ron laughed.

"No it's not, all we'd need would be some Polyjuice Potion." Hermione said.

"What's that?" Harry and Ron asked.

"Snape mentioned it in class a few weeks ago-" Hermione sighed.

I giggled, "d'you really think they're going to pay a lot of attention to Snape and his lectures?"

Hermione rolled her eyes but explained, "it transforms you into somebody else. Think about it! We could change into three Slytherins. No one would know it was us. Malfoy would probably tell us anything. He's probably boasting about it in the Slytherin common room right now, if only we could hear him."

"This Polyjuice stuff sounds a bit dodgy to me," Ron was frowning. "What if we were stuck looking like three of the Slytherins forever?"

"It wears off after a while." Hermione waved her hand.

"We will do all the research we can to make sure you don't look like someone else." I patted Ron shoulders before crossing my arms and laying my head on the table.

"Getting hold of the recipe will be very difficult. Snape said it was in a book called _'Moste Potente Potions'_ and it's bound to be in the Restricted Section of the Library." Hermione said.

"Hard to see why we'd want the book, really, if we weren't going to try and make one of the potions." Ron sighed, slouching into his chair.

"I think, that if we made it sound as though we were just interested in the theory, we might stand a chance…" Hermione had doubt in her voice as a grin formed on my face.

"Oh, come on, no teacher's going to fall for that." Ron rolled his eyes, "they'd have to be really thick…" He trailed off.

"If Hermione sweet talks him, Lockhart just might sign a permission slip." I turned my grin to Hermione.

* * *

Defense Against the Dark Arts was a bit easier to get through. But only a bit. We mostly read out of his books and he would reenact the more dramatic bits in the books. And he would have a "volunteer" help him those reenactments. I was currently stuffing my fist into my mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

"Nice loud howl, Harry -" Lockhart was encouraging my friend.

Harry looked at me, rolled his eyes then threw his head back and howled. I put my head on the desk and my shoulders shook from my laughter. Ron was sniggering next to me, and Malfoy was also laughing. But his was more of a mocking laugh than a humorous one.

"-Exactly! And then, if you'll believe it, I pounced - like this - _slammed_ him to the floor -" Lockhart had actually pounced at Harry and was holding him down on the ground.

Harry didn't look hurt, just more or less annoyed. I was starting to hiccup from my laughing. I couldn't listen to what Lockhart was saying, once he had Harry whimper to show the pain the werewolf was in, I couldn't keep it together.

I was giggling into my arms as Ron was trying to stifle his sniggers. We just couldn't keep it together. Thankfully the bell rang and I gathered up all of my stuff as Harry walked back to join us.

"I'm going to step outside, I don't think Lockhart will sign it if I'm around." I said.

"That's a good idea." Ron nodded.

I nodded to him and followed the crowd outside to the corridor and I waited.

"Cas!" A familiar voice called out.

"Ced!" I waved to the Hufflepuff boy.

"How are you doing?" He grinned as he fought through the crowd to get to me.

"I'm good! And yourself?" I held an arm out that wasn't holding my stuff and gave him a hug.

"Doing good as well. I can't believe we haven't talked to each other yet this year." He gave me a playful scowl.

"A lot has been happening." I admitted with a shrug.

 _'There's a Chamber of Secrets hidden inside the castle. My father is a serial killer. My best friend is an orphan because of him.'_ I thought sadly to myself.

"Yeah, but hey if you ever need anything don't hesitate to ask." Cedric nudged my shoulder.

"Same goes to you!" I said as he started to walk towards his next class.

He had turned the corner when my friends came out and showed me his loopy signature on the permission slip.

"I don't believe it," Harry said when I gave it back to Hermione. "He didn't even _look_ at the book we wanted."

"Really?" I asked as we started to head towards the library.

"That's because he's a brainless _git_ , but who cares, we've got what we needed-" Ron shrugged.

"He is not a brainless git." Hermione's voice was shrill as the library doors came into sight.

"Just because he said you were the best student of the year-" Ron and Hermione started to bicker.

"Awoo." I playfully howled and nudged Harry's shoulder.

"Please don't." Harry rolled his eyes but he had a grin on his face.

I chuckled as we walked up to Madam Pince.

 _"Moste Potente Potions?"_ She asked suspiciously.

She was trying to take the slip from Hermione, but the girl had a grip on it.

"I was wondering if I could keep it." Hermione was staring at the paper longingly.

"Oh come on." Ron rolled his eyes and wrenched the paper from Hermione and handed it to Madam Pince, "we'll get you another autograph, Lockhart'll sign anything if it stands still long enough."

I nodded in agreement as Pince held the note up to the light. Her eyes squinting as though we had forged his signature. She stalked away and when she came back she had a large, moldy-looking book. Hermione carefully put it in her bag. I took a step to her and laced our arms together.

Together I walked her casually out of the library and towards the second floor bathroom, where it was still out of order.

"It'll get easier." I whispered as I made sure to walk calmly.

She nodded her head as I ushered the boys in behind her, checking one last time to see if the coast was clear.

 _'I should probably pull out my map at some point if I have too.'_ I thought to myself as Hermione opened up the book carefully.

I turned to look at the book and stared in disgust at an illustration of woman with extra arms coming out of her head.

"Here it is." Hermione pointed to the page with _'The Polyjuice Potion'_ at the top.

"This looks super complicated." I said as I skimmed through the page to see it was full of directions.

"Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, and knotgrass." Hermione murmured as she ran a finger down a list of the ingredients. "Well, they're easy enough, they're in the student store-cupboard. We can help ourselves, but look, powdered horn of a bicorn - don't know where we're going to get that - shredded skin of a boomslang - that'll be tricky too - and of course a bit of whoever we want to change into." Hermione shrugged.

"Excuse me?" Ron interjected sharply. "What d'you mean, a bit of whoever we're changing into? I'm drinking _nothing_ with Crabbe's toenails in it-"

I was nodded vigorously even though it was decided that I wasn't taking the potion.

"We don't have to worry about that yet, because we add those bits last…" Hermione was still reading the potion.

"D'you realize how much we're going to have to steal, Hermione?" I asked slowly.

"Shredded skin of a boomslang, that's definitely not in the students' cupboard. What're we going to do, break into Snape's private stores? I don't know if this is a good idea…" Harry nodded in agreement to what I said.

Hermione shut the book with a snap and gave us a hard look.

"Well, if you're going to chicken out fine," her cheeks had bright pink patches and her eyes were bright. " _I_ don't want to break rules, you know. _I_ think threatening Muggle-borns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, I'll go straight to Madam Pince now and hand the book back in-"

I was grinning at her with wide eyes.

"I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us to break rules." Ron sounded as impressed as I was feeling. "We'll do it, but not toenails, okay?"

"How long will it take to make, anyway?" Harry asked as Hermione opened the book back up, looking happier.

"Well, since the Fluxweed has got to be picked at the full moon and the lacewings have got to be stewed for twenty-one days… I'd say it'd be ready in about a month, if we can get all the ingredients." Hermione answered.

"A month?" I asked, concerned.

"Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggle-borns by then!" Ron exclaimed.

Hermione's eyes narrowed.

"But it's the best plan we've got, so full steam ahead I say." He nodded while not looking directly at Ron.

I giggled as Hermione put the book back in her bag for safe keeping.

"Let's go to dinner. I'm hungry." I lead the way back to bathroom door.

I poked my head out and checked to make sure the coast was clear before gesturing for the boys to follow me.

* * *

I woke up and internally groaned. Wood wanted me to play today, even though I was a reserve. He wanted the 'best players' to play and Alicia Spinnett had said that she will step back and let me play as I had improved over the course of training. I got out of bed and dressed and made my way downstairs.

I was surprised to see George down there.

"Where's Fred?" I asked.

I laughed as George jumped and turned around to face me.

"He went ahead, I wanted to talk to you." He said with a wink.

I was grateful that I've decided to keep my hair a sunrise pink as I didn't want him to know how embarrassed I was getting.

"What do you want to talk about?" I asked.

"Cassie, I admitted to you that I have a crush on you. And it feels like you have been avoiding me." He raised an eyebrow at me while crossing his arms.

"I haven't been avoiding you. I've been doing homework and going to class." I partially lied.

I was avoiding him as best as I could.

"Sure. But eventually we will have to talk about this." He walked closer to me.

"You realize I am twelve years old? And you are fourteen?" I took a step back.

I came up to about the bottom of his ribcage. He had shot up over the summer and I was still waiting on my growth spurt to hit me.

"What does that have to do with anything?" He asked, his voice going soft.

"George, I feel like I'm still too young. I'm not ready to pursue a relationship." I admitted, just as soft.

His face got hurt, but then understanding.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that…" He took a step back.

I threw my arms around him and we stood there for a minute before he uncrossed his arms and hugged me too.

"Just give me another year. Then we can see if this will go somewhere." I said, feeling my insides warm up.

"I'll take that deal." George chuckled.

I pulled away from him, "now why don't you catch up with Fred, I'm going to wait until Harry comes down."

"Sounds good, see you downstairs, Princess." He winked at me before walking out of the portrait hole.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"That was lovely." Harry appeared next to me.

"Bollocks!" I jumped and slapped his arm.

He held his arm where I had slapped him and laughed.

"How long were you standing there?" I demanded, a smile forming on my face.

"Not long, I was coming down the stairs when I heard you and George talking." He admitted as we both started to walk out of the common room.

"So you decided to eavesdrop?" I teased.

"Why not? Poking around is what I do best." He said pompously.

I laughed as I shook my head. We walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence. When we entered the Great Hall, the rest of the team was huddle together along the otherwise empty table. Harry and I walked down separate aisles of the benches so that we could face each other as we ate. I ended up sitting next to Fred who nodded to me but didn't say anything.

The entire team was looking glum. Harry and I both looked at each other and I shrug my shoulders. I slowly put my hair in a ponytail and made the bottom part gold and the top part Gryffindor red. Fred smirked and nodded his approval of my color choice.

I looked up when there was a flutter of wings and Barnabas hooted as he landed next to me.

"Hello handsome." I scratched his head before take the letter tied around his leg off.

He hooted then nibbled on my finger. I gave him a piece of egg and he flew off again.

 _'Ms. Zwart,_

 _I have heard that you found out who your father is, and you've gone looking for answers. Why don't you join me for afternoon tea tomorrow and we can discuss it further?_

 _The password is 'Milky Way'._

 _Professor Dumbledore._

 _P.S. Good luck today.'_

"Who is that from?" Harry asked as I folded the letter up and put it in my pocket.

"Professor Dumbledore, he wants to discuss my attitude with Lockhart tomorrow in private." I shrugged.

"Did you know that you shrug when you lie?" George said nonchalantly as he took a sip from his goblet.

"Yes." I purposefully shrugged my shoulders to him with a playful scowl.

He chuckled as the team stood up and made our way to Quidditch field. Just as we were about to enter the locker rooms Hermione and Ron came up and wished us good luck before finding a spot to watch.

"Slytherin has better brooms than us," Wood began as I finished putting on my gloves and sat next to Harry. "No point denying it. But we've got better _people_ on our brooms. We've trained harder than they have, we've been flying in all weathers and we're going to make them rue the day they let that little bit of slime, Malfoy, buy his way onto their team."

I nodded along, feeling the anger of what he was saying course through my veins. Wood turned to Harry and I.

"It'll be up to you two. Cassie, you need to make as many scores as you can. You're the fastest out of all of us, you'll show them it takes skill to do what you can." I nodded to him. "Harry, you need to show them that a Seeker has to have something more of a rich father. Get to the Snitch before Malfoy or die trying."

"No pressure, Harry." I said dryly, rolling my eyes.

We stood up and walked out onto the pitch as the noise greeted us. Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were cheering with the Gryffindors, but we could hear the booing and the hissing coming from the Slytherins in the stands. I just focused on my breathing as Flint and Wood shook hands.

"On my whistle." Madam Hooch said. "Three…two...one…"

With a roar of the crowd I had shot forward and got to the quaffle before a surprised Flint. I made sure to hit his face with the bristles of my broom before shooting off and scoring the first ten points of the game.

"THAT MUST BE A RECORD OF ALL OF QUIDDITCH! ZWART TOOK THE SHOT AND SURPRISED EVERYONE THE FIRST FIVE SECONDS OF THE GAME!" Lee Jordan was the commentator for the game, as he usually was.

I gave a cheeky grin to Flint who glared at me with a sneer. I shot forward as Angelina chased after another one of the Slytherin chasers who had the quaffle. I was the only one would keep up with the Slytherin brooms and after a few minutes of the game I heard the whistle.

Wood had called a timeout and I was panting by the time I joined them. And I was able to notice that it had started to rain.

"What's going on?" Wood asked as I joined the huddle. "We're being flattened. Fred, George, where were you when that Bludger stopped Angelina scoring?"

"We were twenty feet above her, stopping the other Bludger from murdering Harry, Oliver." George said angrily. "Someone's fixed it - it won't leave Harry alone. It hasn't gone for anyone else all game. The Slytherin's must have done something to it."

"But the Bludgers have been locked in Madam Hooch's office since our last practice, and there was nothing wrong with them then…" Wood said anxiously.

I had finally stopped panting when Harry looked over my shoulder. I looked over to see what he was looking at and Madam Hooch was walking towards us.

"Harry." I turned to look back at him and I did not like what I was seeing on his face.

"Listen, with you two flying around me all the time the only way I'm going to catch the Snitch is if it flies up my sleeve. Go back to the rest of the team and let me deal with the rogue one." Harry said.

"Don't be thick!" I said.

"It'll take your head off!" Fred said as well.

"Oliver this is insane." Angelina said angrily. "You can't let Harry deal with that thing on his own. Let's ask for an inquiry."

"If we stop now, we'll have to forfeit the match!" Harry snapped. "And we're not losing to Slytherin because of a crazy Bludger! Come on, Oliver, tell them to leave me alone!"

"You are thick!" I snapped back at him.

"This is all your fault!" George glared at Wood, " 'Get the snitch or die trying,' what a stupid thing to tell him-"

I held my hand out to Harry who took it and we both glared at each other before nodding.

 _'Stupid thick headed boys. Why am I even letting this happen?'_ I thought angrily as Madam Hooch joined us.

"Ready to resume play?" She asked.

"All right," Wood nodded. "Fred, George, you heard Harry - leave him alone and let him deal with the Bludger on his own. Aim the other Bludger at any Slytherin going after Cassie. She needs to make more goals."

Madam Hooch whistled again and we were in the air once twins took turns following me as I fought for the Quaffle. They managed to succeed in hitting the chasers on the opposite team and I was able to make a few more scores.

"THE BLUDGER HAS HIT POTTER!" Lee's voice shouted.

I threw the Quaffle away and turned my broom sharply to see Harry plummeting to the ground.

"DON'T YOU HIT THAT GROUND!" I shrieked as I dove after my best friend.

I wasn't fast enough, but the rain had made the ground muddy so his landing was soft. I landed a few feet from him and slid on my knees the rest of the way.

"Harry!" I grabbed his head, avoiding his arm that was hanging at an odd angle.

"Aha, we've won." He smiled, then fainted.

"You stupid prat." I swore to him.

I picked up his head and put it on my lap, elevating him as the rest of the team joined us.

"Harry! Harry!" Lockhart had rushed over and joined us.

"Oh no, not you." Harry groaned as we woke back up.

"Doesn't know what he's saying." Lockhart said loudly as the crowd thickened around us.

"I'm glad you're awake." I put my head over Harry's so that the rain wouldn't hit him.

"Me too." He said softly.

"Not to worry Harry, I'm about to fix your arm." Lockhart said.

 _"No!"_ Harry and I both exclaimed.

"I'll keep it like this, thanks…" Harry said.

"Madam Pomfrey needs to see him right away, not a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." I snapped at the man.

There was a familiar click.

"I don't want a photo of this Colin." Harry said as he tried to sit up.

"Don't do that. Someone get Madam Pomfrey now!" I pushed on Harry's good shoulder to make him stay.

"Lie back Harry." Lockhart was ignoring anything we were saying.

"Why can't I just go to the hospital wing?" Harry asked through gritted teeth.

"I don't want to move you if you're hurting." I said to him.

"He should really, Professor." Wood was just as muddy as us and he had the biggest grin on his face. "Great capture Harry, really spectacular."

"Stand back." Lockhart had rolled up his jade-green sleeves.

"No - don't -" Harry said weakly.

"Lockhart!" I snapped but it was too late.

He twirled his wand, said some sort of incantation, and pointed his wand at Harry's wand. I felt Harry tense and I gave him my hand to hold with his good one. I watched as Harry's broken arm started to… deflate?

"Ah. Yes." Lockhart nodded awkwardly. "That can sometimes happen. But the point is, the bones are no longer broken. That's the thing to bear in mind. Miss Zwart, why don't you and Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley escort him to the hospital wing."

I glared at the blonde man, but when I saw Harry's arm I had to fight the urge to puke.

"You didn't mend his bones, _you removed them!_ " I shrieked as Hermione helped me up after she and Ron had gotten Harry up.

Harry looked down and he about fainted again.

"I can't believe that man!" I was muttering to myself as Ron and I carried Harry up the grounds.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"You should have come straight to me!" Madam Pomfrey was in a rage, holding Harry's limp arm.

"We wanted to, but Lockhart had to show off." I was pacing the hospital wing floor.

The adrenaline was wearing off from the game and the anger, but I was still jittery.

"I can mend bones in a second - but growing them back -" Madam Pomfrey had either ignored me or didn't hear me.

"You will be able to, won't you?" Harry asked desperately.

"I'll be able to, certainly, but it will be painful." Madam Pomfrey was grim as she handed Harry a pair of pajamas.

I sat down next to Hermione as we waited for Ron to help Harry change. I was still muttering under my breath.

"He was trying to help!" Hermione finally snapped at me.

"How can you stick up for Lockhart now Hermione?" Ron asked through the curtain.

"If Harry had wanted deboning he would have asked." I added, turning my hair back to pink.

"Anyone can make a mistake, and it doesn't hurt anymore, does it Harry?" Hermione answered defensively.

"No." Harry answered as Ron opened the curtain, "but it doesn't do anything else either."

I put my hand to my mouth as Harry's arm flapped pointlessly.

Madam Pomfrey came back and was only a large bottle in the shape of a skeleton. It was labeled _'Skele-Gro'_.

"You're in for a rough night." Madam Pomfrey poured at a steamy orange liquid into a beaker and gave it to Harry. "Regrowing bones is a nasty business."

Harry flinched as he drank the potion. Madam Pomfrey left, muttering about inept teachers and dangerous sports. Hermione and Ron helped Harry drink some water as I pulled up a chair and sat with my arms crossed.

"We won though." Ron said.

I couldn't help the grin spreading on my face.

"That was some catch you made. Malfoy's face… he looked ready to kill…" Ron smiled at me as he sat down as well.

"I want to know how he fixed that Bludger." Hermione said darkly.

"I don't think it was Malfoy, it would have been an older student." I sneered as I defended Malfoy.

"We can add that to the list of questions we'll ask him when we've taken the Polyjuice Potion." Harry said he settled into his bed with a sigh.

"I hope it tastes better than this stuff…" He muttered.

"If it's got bits of Slytherins in it? You've got to be joking." Ron said.

I pointed at him in agreement.

Before anything else could be said, the hospital wing door opened and the rest of the team came in.

"Unbelievable flying Harry and Cassie." George grinned as he handed me a pumpkin pastie.

I grinned happily as I opened up the packaging and took a bite out of it.

"I've just seen Flint yelling at Malfoy. Something about having the Snitch on top of his head and not noticing. Malfoy didn't seem too happy." George finished as the rest of the team placed their various sweets down around us.

"Maybe he shouldn't have been focused on following Harry and focused on the game." I rolled my eyes as Fred started to open up a bottle of pumpkin juice.

"This boy needs to rest, he's got thirty-three bones to regrow! Out! OUT!" Madam Pomfrey came over and shooed us out of the hospital wing.

"Good night, sweet dreams Harry." I put a hand on Harry's good arm before walking out with Ron and Hermione.

"Do you think he'll be out tomorrow?" Ron asked as the rest of the team walked ahead.

"I believe so. He heals fast." I shrugged as Hermione and I linked arms.

Hermione sniffed once and then unlinked her arm from mine and went over to the other side of Ron. "You need a shower!"

I laughed with Ron at her comment.

* * *

The next morning I had a delightful stretch. Ariel grunted her displeasure at that, but also stretched out next to me. Hermione chuckled somewhere in the room, so I lifted my head to look at her.

"What?" I asked.

"You two are ridiculous." She shook her head with a smile.

"Yes we are." I nodded and put my head back on my pillow.

I closed my eyes with a sigh.

"Come on, we're going to go eat breakfast." Hermione poked my side.

"I don't want to move." I said softly, not quite going back to sleep but enjoying the relaxation I was in.

"If you don't come down and eat, you won't be eating until lunch." Hermione said as she put on her shoes.

"You're right." I grumbled before finally getting out of bed.

After changing out of my pajamas, I pulled up my skirt and stockings and rather than put on a school shirt, I put on the sweater Mrs. Weasley had made for me last year. I quickly shoved my feet into my shoes and followed Hermione down the stairs.

As I was brushing my hair out of my face I gave it a good look at. It had been pink most of the year, and even though I liked the color, I wanted something different. So once we met up with Ron, I linked arms with Hermione and focused on the strands I had in my other hand and started to change them different colors.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked.

"I want a different color." I answered as I tried different shades of blue.

"I thought you were going to stick with pink?" Hermione asked as she lead me down the staircases.

"I thought so too, but I just wanted something different." I said as I changed my hair to match Ron's red hair.

"If you go a shade darker…" Ron said.

I turned my hair so that it was more of an auburn red than Weasley.

"There you go." Ron nodded his approval.

I grinned at him and happily flicked my hair behind me. I felt it brushing against my elbow and it tickled.

 _'I should probably get it trimmed.'_ I thought as we sat down on our breakfast table.

We sat together in silence, not really having anything to say since it's so early in the morning.

"Colin Creevey was attacked last night, we must keep a closer eye on our students Filius. I'm afraid he won't be the only one…" McGonagall said to the Charms teacher as they passed us to go to the Professor's table.

I choked on my eggs and tried to swallow some water to get them down. McGonagall turned back to face us but Ron and Hermione had already put their heads together and started to mutter about subjects.

She continued on her walk to the table and I finally took a breath.

"Colin got Petrified." I stated, shock hitting me.

"How did Colin get attacked?" Hermione asked.

"He probably went down to visit Harry." I closed my eyes and put my head in my hands.

"Why would he do that?" Ron asked.

"Are you kidding me? He adores Harry, why wouldn't he go and try to comfort his hero?" I asked, not moving as I lost my hunger.

"You know what this means?" Hermione asked solemnly.

I looked up at her.

"We need to start making that potion." Ron answered, just as solemnly.

"But where do we make it? We can't exactly keep it in the common room." I sighed, pushing my plate away.

"I don't know…" Hermione shook her head.

"The girls bathroom." Ron said.

Hermione and I looked at each and then back to Ron.

"Ron you're brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed.

"We have to go and get everything as soon as we can." I shared a grin with Hermione.

"Oh uh-" Ron had blushed slightly.

"Don't be so shy, you know you're brilliant." I teased him as we stood up and started to hurry out of the Great Hall and back to our dormitory.

He was flushed but had a proud grin on his face.

* * *

I was watching Hermione as she and Ron both worked together to make the potion. I thought it was cute how Hermione was letting him do what he can and Ron would puff up when she complimented on his technique.

We heard the door open and I put a finger to my lips. Ron and Hermione both looked at me with fear.

"It's me." Harry's voice echoed through the bathroom.

I breathed a sigh of relief and open the cramped bathroom stall we had managed to fit in.

 _"Harry!"_ Hermione sighed as well, "you gave us such a fright. How's your arm?"

I check Harry's watch for the time, I was supposed to have afternoon tea with Dumbledore and with his schedule, that could be anytime between one and dinner time.

"Fine." He answered as I left the door open so that we could stand outside of it while Ron and Hermione got the potion started.

"We'd've come to meet you, but we decided to get started on the Polyjuice Potion." Ron explained.

"We've decided this is the safest place to hide it." Hermione finished.

"This is a good place to hide it." Harry nodded, "you wouldn't believe what happened last night."

"Colin Creevey was attacked and is now Petrified?" I shrugged.

Harry looked at me in confusion.

"We already know - we heard Professor McGonagall telling Professor Flitwick this morning. That's why we decided we'd better get going -" Hermione explained.

"The sooner we get a confession out of Malfoy, the better." Ron snarled. "D'you know what I think? He was in such a foul temper after the Quidditch match, he took it out on Colin."

Harry interjected before Ron could start going on a rant.

"What is it?" I asked, checking Harry's watch again.

"Dobby came to visit me in the middle of the night." Harry said.

We all looked at Harry in amazement and he told us what Dobby told him last night.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened _before?_ " Hermione asked.

"This settles it," Ron said triumphantly, "Lucius Malfoy must've opened the Chamber when he was at school here and now he's told dear old Draco how to do it. It's obvious. Wish Dobby told you what kind of monster it is."

"I want to know how come nobody's noticed it sneaking around the school." I looked at Harry who nodded in agreement.

"Maybe it can make itself invisible," Hermione prodded leeches to the bottom of the cauldron.

"Or maybe it can disguise itself - pretend to be a suit of armor or something?" I shrugged.

"I've read about Chameleon Ghouls-" Hermione added to my comment.

"You read too much Hermione." Ron poured dead lacewings on top of the leeches. "So Dobby stopped us from getting on the train and broke your arm…" He turned to Harry while shaking his head, "you know what Harry? If he doesn't stop trying to save your life, he's going to kill you."

"No kidding." Harry sighed.

"I have to go, Professor Dumbledore wants to see me for something." I stretched my arms over my head.

"Any idea what for?" Harry asked.

"Not a clue, I'll find out. And don't worry I'll tell you guys about it." I smiled at my friends.

"Sounds good." Harry nodded to me as I walked to the door.

I opened the door and just walked out.

"Cassie!" Percy called from the end of the corridor.

"Yes?" I jumped from the slight scare I had.

"Have you seen Ron? And what were you doing in the girls bathroom?" He asked me suspiciously as he walked to me.

"It's out of order, it's the only real place anyone can go for some privacy away from the rest of the school." I tried to keep my shoulders from shrugging.

"Oh, well have you seen Ron? You, Hermione and him left in a bit of a hurry." He was still squinting at me.

"No, we split up. I told them I wanted to go to the library to check a source out for a Charms essay." I shook my head as I tried to walk away from the bathroom.

"Oh, so he's not in there then?" Percy pointed to the _'Out-of-Order'_ sign on the bathroom door.

"No." I shook my head once again and started to walk down the corridor, my heart beating just a bit harder.

"Alright." He didn't follow me and for that I was grateful.

I hoped they had heard our conversation and would stay in there until enough time had passed for Percy to leave the corridor. I was chewing on my lip nervously as I walked through the corridors to trying to remember where Dumbledore's office was.

 _'Why didn't I grab my map before leaving the dormitory this morning?'_ I sighed to myself as I walked down a corridor.

"Miss Zwart, where are you going?" McGonagall asked me when I turned a corner and saw her talking to Flitwick.

"Minnie!" I grinned and skipped over to her.

"Miss Zwart, I must ask you not call me that." She sighed but her eyes had a slight glint to them.

"Sorry, I'm trying to find Professor Dumbledore's office." I nodded my head but rolled my eyes in my head.

"You're almost there, just down this corridor and take a left up the stairs. Do you know what the password is?" Flitwick was kind enough to point me in the right direction.

"Yes professor. It's 'Milky Way'." I nodded as I sidestepped to go around the professors.

"Oh good. I'll see you in class!" Flitwick waved at me and I waved back at him and McGonagall as well.

 _'He so cheerful.'_ I chuckled to myself as found the stairs to my left.

I took a deep breath as I walked up to the Gargoyle. I gave myself a shake and looked at the statue. He blinked at looked me with an expectant look on his face.

"Milky Way." I said with a nod.

He nodded back to me before jumping out of the wait to show me another staircase. I gave an internal sigh and walked up more stairs. I was grateful for being on the Quidditch team, but I still had to take a moment to breath when I reached his door.

"Come in Cassie." Dumbledore's voice said as I went to knock.

I shook my head with a small smile and entered his office. He still had all of the old books and portraits of previous headmasters and headmistresses hanging on the walls. Fawkes was on his stand but he was looking a bit under the weather.

"How are you today?" Dumbledore asked as he gestured to a chair in front of his desk.

"I'm good. I saw Harry before I came up here, Madam Pomfrey is amazing." I answered as I sat down.

"I'm glad to hear he's alright, I heard what Gilderoy did." He gave a little sigh as he waved his wand and a teapot started to fill up two teacups.

"Why haven't you put Snape in the DADA position?" I asked.

"Professor Snape, and no one else has applied to be the Potions Master." He looked at me over his half-moon spectacles.

"I'm sure Professor Lockhart would have been more than happy to be in any position." I shrugged my shoulders mostly in disgust as the teacup and milk pitcher floated towards me.

"He applied for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, and I believe he is the best for the job." Dumbledore said calmly as he put two sugarcubes into his cup.

"Sorry, we're not here to discuss the choices of teachers for positions." I was actually apologetic of how I was talking to him.

"You're right, I heard that you were asking about Sirius Black." Dumbledore took a sip of his tea as I stirred some sugar into my tea.

"My mother wrote me a letter, it appeared in my vault at Gringotts…" And I told him how I found out that my father is Sirius Black.

"I see…" Dumbledore said thoughtfully as I sat back in my chair and accepted a second cup of tea from the teapot.

"Madam Pince told me that I should keep it from the Harry." I said as I stirred my tea and took another sip.

"And have you told him?" Dumbledore asked, putting his tea down and summoning the pot to himself with a wave of his hand.

"No. I don't want him to find out. Ever." I shook my head.

"Why not?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"He would be devastated to learn that my father is the reason he is an orphan. I can't lose my best friend. It may not have been my fault, as Sirius doesn't know I exist, but I will not be the one to tell Harry. I don't think it's my place." I explained.

"If that is what you think is best for Harry." Dumbledore put his head down just a little bit.

I nodded and finished off my tea, "I want to write Sirius a letter though."

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"He may be a notorious killer and on Voldemort's side, but he is still my father and I want him to know I exist. It'll be terrible, but… I want to know what kind of a man my father is." I explained slowly.

"Azkaban will read it first. The Minister of Magic will be notified about your heritage." He said slowly, concern growing in his eyes.

"I understand. I'm prepared to face those consequences." I nodded to him.

He stared at me for a few minutes.

"Are you sure?" He finally asked.

"Yes." I nodded to him.

"Then I guess that settles it. You're not going to tell Harry about Sirius and what he's done?" He asked one more time as we stood up.

"I'm not going to tell Harry anything about my father." I said firmly.

"Then that sounds settled to me. But now that you are aware of who your father is, some of the enchantments your mother performed are going to start wearing off. You may want to look into his side of your family." Dumbledore advised as he lead me to the door to his office.

"I will do that as soon as I have the chance." I nodded as I held my hand out to him.

"I will be seeing you around Miss Zwart." Dumbledore had a twinkle in his eyes once more.

"Yes you will." I winked at him and made my way out of his office and back to the dormitory.

* * *

Over the course of the rest of November into December, there was a flurry of amulets, talismans, and other protective devices between the students. Neville had bought several things for himself. He had a rotting newt tail, a purple crystal that was pointed on both ends, and a terribly smelling onion.

"Neville, you don't need these thing." I said as he showed me the purple crystal.

"They went for Filch first," Neville told me, his face fearful. "And everyone knows I'm almost a Squib."

I looked at him, and I felt fear and sorrow for him. We were sitting on the couch in the common room so I put my head on his shoulder. He stiffened up but relaxed after a few minutes of me just saying there.

"Thank you." He said very quietly.

"I won't let anything happen to you." I told him just as quietly.

* * *

I had signed my name under Harry's as McGonagall came with the sign up sheet for Christmas. I hadn't gotten a chance to see Blaise this year, not after the Quidditch incident with Malfoy earlier that year. So he hadn't searched me out to invite me to his house for the holidays.

Malfoy was staying at Hogwarts, however. We thought that was suspicious but it worked out. The potion was halfway finished. We just needed the things we couldn't get in the students cupboard.

The four of us were currently trying to figure it out.

"What we need is a diversion." Hermione said briskly as we walked to Potions, "then one of us can sneak into Snape's office and take what we need."

Harry, Ron and I both looked nervously at each other.

"I think I'd better do the actual stealing, you two will be expelled," she nodded to the boys, "and you may end up in a lot more trouble than I suspect." She nodded to me. "Whereas I've got a clean record. So all you need is to do is cause enough mayhem to keep Snape busy for five minutes or so." She finished her explanation.

"I agree. Hold on, I'll be right back." I spotted Fred and George.

I took off towards them before my friends could protest.

"Guys!" I smiled as I stopped them.

"Princess!" They both said to me.

"I need a firework." I held my hand out to them, fluttering my eyelashes at them.

"Why?" Fred asked.

"I'm going to throw it in a potion." I smiled cheekily at them.

"That's my girl." George winked at me.

I grinned as Fred handed me a Filibuster Firework.

"Thanks guys!" I gave them both a quick hug and ran back to my friends.

"What did you tell them?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"That I was going to throw it in a potion." I said as I put it in the pocket of my cloak.

"Are you?" Harry asked.

"If you get caught, you'll be expelled for sure. If I get caught, I'll just get in major deep trouble. I'll do it." I said as we entered the dungeons.

They nodded since we couldn't really speak more on the subject. I had Ron sit next to Hermione so that I could be as far away from her as possible. I didn't want her to have a harder time getting to Snape's personal collection.

During class Malfoy would flick puffer-fish eyes at Ron and Hermione. Harry and I were farther from him and I don't think he thought he could get away with flicking them towards us. Our potions were runnier than they should have been but we were waiting for Hermione's signal.

Snape sneered at our potions and moved on to pick on Neville, and Hermione turned towards us and nodded. I ducked down as Harry kept watch. I pulled out the Filibuster from Fred and poked it with my wand. I handed it to Harry and he took aim and just threw it. I patted his shoulder when it landed in Goyle's cauldron.

Goyle's potion exploded. Harry and I had ducked under the table just as it happened and we watched the aftermath. Hermione hurried through the chaos and into Snape's office. Goyle's eyes were swelling to the size of dinner plates, Malfoy's nose was swelling up like a balloon, and other students had various body parts swelling. There were swollen ears, fingers, and faces mostly.

"Silence! SILENCE!" Snape roared through the confusion. "Anyone who has been splashed, come here for a Deflating Draft - when I find out who did this -"

Harry and I were stifling at giggles at the class. So many people had been attacked by Goyle's potion. I felt a little bad that Harry had chosen his potion but I was too busy admiring the work Harry and I both had done.

We noticed Hermione slipping back into the dungeon with her robes just slightly bulging. I gave her a nod as Snape flashed his cold eyes over us Gryffindors. I immediately threw up an image of Ariel into my head as I turned to look down at my potion and started to look over my notes I had copied from the board.

Snape stalked over to Goyle's cauldron and scooped out the black remains of the firework. I sucked my lips into my mouth and pressed my teeth down to prevent any giggles to try to keep a shocked look on my face.

"If I ever find out who threw this," Snape whispered dangerously. "I will make sure that person is expelled."

Harry and I both tried to look confused as to who would do such a thing. But Snape was looking right at Harry for the rest of the class period as we cleaned up the potion. The bell rang ten minutes later and we got out of there as fast as we could.

"He knew it was us." Harry said to Ron and Hermione as we hurried to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"I don't know how, but he figured it out." I said as I held the door open for them.

Hermione just shook her head as she hurried to the cauldron to add the newest ingredients, "it'll be ready in two weeks." Hermione said happily.

"Snape can't prove it was the two of you," Ron was trying to reassure us. "What can he do?"

"Knowing Snape, something foul." Harry said and I nodded in agreement.

* * *

 **I forgot to do shout outs last week and I am so sorry!**

 **Shout out to Raylan220 for following the story!**

 **Shout out to amythstcrystal12 for doing the magical four! Following and favoriting the story and me!**


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A week later, I was walking with a nose in one of Lockhart's books. Our next quiz was on it and I didn't want to fail a relatively easy test. Hermione had linked her arm with mine so that she could help me with the crowd. She was muttering the words under her breath as we walked.

"Why do you have this memorized?" I asked as I turned the page.

Hermione didn't get a chance to answer as she pulled me after the boys.

"They're starting a Dueling Club!" Seamus said as we joined them against a wall.

I put a finger in between the pages of my book and read the paper Dean and Seamus were both pointing to.

"First meeting tonight! I wouldn't mind dueling lessons; they might come in handy one of these days…" Seamus said with a grin.

"What, you reckon Slytherin's monster can duel?" Ron asked as he read the sign after me.

"I don't think so. But we can learn a new spell or two." I shrugged.

"Could be useful." Ron agreed. "Shall we go?" He asked.

Harry and Hermione both nodded as I was pulled along once again as I put my nose back into the book I was trying so hard to focus on.

* * *

At eight o'clock we were hurrying with Neville, Seamus and Dean. Neville was nervously playing with his hands and I was trying to reassure him that he was going to be fine. But I don't think he believed me.

"I wonder who'll be teaching us?" Hermione asked as we entered the Great Hall.

I noticed that the four long tables had been replaced by a long golden stage.

"Someone told me Flitwick was a dueling champion when he was young - maybe it'll be him." Hermione added as we joined the crowd.

"As long as it's not-" Harry started but I groaned and pointed.

Harry matched my groan with one of his own and he rolled his eyes. Lockhart had swept onto the stage in repulsive plum colored robes. Snape had joined him and was on the stage with him.

"Oh this is going to be good." I grinned to Harry who reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!" Lockhart was walking slowly up and down the stage as he began to address us.

"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train all you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works." Lockhart was waving his arm in an elegant way as Snape stood on one end of the stage, his arms crossed and his sneer on his face.

I gave a snort and rolled my eyes.

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape." Lockhart flashed a wide smile to the crowd.

 _'More like, let me introduce the man who is going to kick my arse.'_ I thought, projecting it and smirking back at Snape as his mouth twitched.

"He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin." Lockhart projected his voice through the Great Hall.

 _'He knows a tiny little bit about anything. Please knock him down!'_ I thought hotly.

Snape didn't give any indication that time.

"Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry - you'll have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!" Lockhart flashed a smile that I'm sure was meant to be reassuring but I was rolling my eyes.

"Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" Ron muttered to Harry and I.

Harry nodded in agreement as I kept my eyes on Snape. If I was going to learn anything it would be from Snape.

Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed. Lockhart had a flurry of hand movements to go with his, and Snape stiffly titled his head As they raised their wands, Snape's was directed straight at Lockhart, but Lockhart's had his pointed up.

 _'How is he supposed to attack?'_ I asked myself.

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position." Lockhart began to explain.

"Snape is, Lockhart doesn't even have a defensive looking position." I murmed to Neville next to me.

"On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course." Lockhart flashed a smile to the crowd.

"I wouldn't bet on that." Harry murmured as we watched Snape bare his teeth.

"One - two - three-" Lockhart counted down.

Snape didn't even hesitate, with a flick of his wrist he shouted: _"Expelliarmus!"_

A flash of scarlet left his wand and hit Lockhart. He was thrown off his feet, against the wall and he slid down to the floor. I gave a cheer as the Slytherins did as well. There was some polite clapping from the rest of the houses.

"Do you think he's all right?" Hermione squealed next to us.

"Who cares?" Harry and Ron said together.

"Well there you have it!" Lockhart had stood up and was tottering his way back to the stage.

"That was a Disarming Charm - as you see, I've lost my wand - ah, thank you, Miss Brown - yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind me saying so, it was very obvious what were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy -" Lockhart was trying to compose himself.

"So why didn't you?" I had deepened my voice to sound more like a boys.

I earned snickers through the crowd as Hermione stomped on my foot.

"Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape if you'd like to help me -" Lockhart had turned a slight pink color but it could have been from the blood flow running out of his brain.

Lockhart reached us after a bit and he teamed up Neville with Justin Finch-Fletchley, Snape sneered as he loomed over us.

"Time to split up the dream team, I think." He said, "Weasley, you can partner Finnigan, Potter -"

Harry took a step towards me and I closed my eyes and sighed deeply.

"I don't think so." When I opened my eyes, Snape was smiling coldly at Harry. "Mr. Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, Miss Granger - you can partner Miss Bulstrode." Malfoy had strutted over, and following behind him was a large girl.

She was rather square in shape and she had her jaw jutted out in an aggressive manor. Hermione offered her a weak smile. Bulstrode did not return it.

"Zwart will be with Christensen." Snape said.

I snapped my head and I saw the girl from last year. Her hair had grown out a bit but she was still as beautiful as ever.

"Cassie, the cat girl." She winked at me.

I was grateful that my hair was pink.

"Face your partners!" Called Lockhart who was back on the platform. "And bow!"

I gave a low bow, but I kept my head up so that we can maintain eye contact.

"Wands at the ready." Lockhart shouted, his voice echoing faintly through the hall.

I gave a slow wink to Christensen who smiled wickedly at me. My heart thumped a little harder.

"When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents - _only_ to disarm them - we don't want any accidents - one… two… three -"

He didn't even finish the count of the three when she threw a spell at me.

 _"Protego!"_ I threw my wand up and the flash of scarlet was redirected for a second.

Hermione had looked up different spells before the club started and I figured a protection spell was the better option to learn first.

Her eyes widened and I knew she wasn't expecting that.

 _"Petrificus Totalus!"_ I barely moved my lips as I said the spell.

Her mouth had opened in shock but it closed with a snap and she went stiff as a board. I didn't reach her in time to stop her from hitting the floor.

Lockhart had started to scream out the crowd while I crouched over Christensen. I didn't want to removed the Full Body Bind if she was going to try to retaliate. Once everyone had stopped dueling there was a green haze over us that I didn't see before.

I saw that Hermione and Bulstrode were still fighting, but only they weren't flinging spells at each other.

"I'll be right back!" I said to the girl on the floor and quickly leapt and ran over to help Harry get Hermione out of the headlock she was in.

"That is _enough_!" I dug my fingers into the soft flesh of Bulstrode's arm.

Harry pulled Hermione towards safety as I glared at the big Slytherin.

 _"Finite Incantatem!"_ Snape had performed a counter-charm on my body bind curse and Christensen was soon sitting up as I walked back over to her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want you to shoot a spell at my back." I said as I held a hand out for her.

"You think I would have done that?" She glared at me.

"I would have." I admitted, looking into her brown eyes.

She took a moment to look at me, and then she accepted my hand to help her up.

"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells." Lockhart stood over us on the stage, looking around kind of flustered.

I snorted and nudged Christensen with my shoulder, but she was looking up at Lockhart with big eyes. I rolled my eyes at her instead and decided to shift my hips so that I wasn't in her space.

"Let's have a volunteer pair - Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you -" Lockhart looked around the Great Hall.

"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart." Snape glided over to Lockhart on the stage. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox. How about Malfoy and Potter?" Snape's mouth twisted into a grin.

I walked over to Neville and pulled him away from the stage and whispered in his ear, "don't listen to him. You're still learning how to perform magic."

"Excellent idea!" Lockhart beamed as he gestured to Harry and Malfoy.

I left Neville behind me as I went to walk closer to the stage. Ron had joined me as Hermione stood back with Neville. Lockhart was muttering something to Harry as Snape and Malfoy both grinned from their side of the stage.

"Harry's going to die." Ron whispered to me.

"I know." I whispered back as Harry and Malfoy had a quiet conversation between themselves.

"Just do what I did Harry!" Lockhart suddenly cuffed Harry on the shoulder and took a step back.

"What, drop my wand?" Harry asked, but Lockhart wasn't listening.

I sniggered and coughed on my saliva that got caught in my throat.

"Three - two - one - go!" Lockhart counted down.

Malfoy made the first move.

 _"Serpensortia!"_ Malfoy flicked his wand a long black snake exploded out of it and landed in front of Harry.

 _'Oh shit!'_ I grabbed Ron's arm as the snake gave me a weird look.

Ron looked down at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

I shook my head as I kept my eyes on the snake. I was terrified of them.

"Don't move, Potter." Snape said as the snake and Harry held a staring contest. "I'll get rid of it…"

"Allow me!" Lockhart shouted.

I flinched as he waved his wand towards the snake and flew it ten feet into the air. When it landed, with a bang, it was angry and started to slither towards Justin Finch-Fletchley.

"Oh no!" I squeaked, pointing a shaking finger towards the Hufflepuff.

Ron started to move when there was a strange hissing sound coming from above us. When I looked up, Harry's mouth was moving strangely, and the hissing was coming from him.

 _'This is bad.'_ I thought to myself.

The snake was suddenly on the floor and just staring at Harry. He looked at Justin with a grin on his face, but it fell when he saw everyone's reactions.

"What do you think you're playing at?" Justin shouted before turning around and storming out of the Great Hall.

Snape took the opportunity to wave his wand at the snake. This time it disappeared in a puff of black smoke. I took a moment to breath and looked up at Harry. He was looking around the Great Hall and was looking uneasy. I reached up and tugged on his robes.

"Harry, come on." I said as he looked down at me.

He nodded and slowly came down off the stage. I linked my arm through his and with Ron shoving people out of our way we managed to get out of the Great Hall, up the stairs, and into the empty Gryffindor Common Room.

"You're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?" Ron asked as he pushed Harry into an armchair.

I sat on the armrest of the chair and put my arm around Harry's shoulders.

"I'm a what?" Harry asked, leaning into my side.

 _"A Parselmouth!"_ Ron stressed. "You can talk to snakes!"

"I know." Harry said in a monotone voice.

I stared down at him in shock, my eyes widening and my mouth opening.

"I mean, that's the only second time I've ever done it. I accidentally set a boa constrictor on my cousin Dudley at the zoo once - long story" He looked up at me and must have thought my facial expression for him.

"But it was telling me it had never seen Brazil and I sort of set it free without meaning to - that was before I knew I was a wizard -"

"A boa constrictor told you it had never seen Brazil?" Ron repeated faintly.

"So?" Harry asked. "I bet loads of people here can do it."

I shook my head, still trying to wrap my head around what had happened with the snake.

"Oh no they can't." Ron shook his head and gave a sarcastic chuckle. "It's not a very common gift, Harry, this is bad."

"What's bad?" Harry stood up, suddenly angry. "What's wrong with everyone? Listen, if I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin -"

"Oh, that's what you said to it?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Like Harry would have it attack someone?!" I exclaimed, shocked at her.

"What d'you mean? You were there - you heard me -" Harry looked at all of us in a confusion.

"No Harry. You were hissing at that snake." I shook my head at him.

"Parseltongue. Snake language." Ron said solemnly. "You could have been saying anything to it - no wonder Justin panicked, you sounded like you were egging the snake on or something - it was creepy, you know -"

Harry gaped at him while I stared at his back.

"I spoke a different language? But - I didn't realize - how can I speak a language without knowing I can speak it?" Harry asked.

Ron shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know Harry." I said softly from behind him.

"D'you want to tell me what's wrong with stopping a massive snake biting off Justin's head?" Harry suddenly snapped. "What does it matter _how_ I did it as long as Justin doesn't have to join the Headless Hunt?"

"It matters," Hermione spoke up, "because being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for. That's why the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent."

Harry's eyes widened in realization as I stood up and joined their triangle, making it a square.

"Exactly," Ron nodded, pointing at Hermione. "And now the whole school's going to think you're his great-great-great-great-grandson or something -"

"But I'm not." Harry looked at me with a panic in his eyes.

I put my hand on his shoulder hoped he saw the belief in my eyes.

"You'll find that hard to prove," Hermione said quietly. "He lived a thousand years ago; for all we know, you could be."

I gave her a hard stare as the other Gryffindor's from the dueling club started to trickle in.

"You best get up to bed." I muttered to Harry.

He nodded numbly and I gave him a hug. He returned it with a shaky breath. Ron nodded to me and Hermione and I went up the girls staircase as the boys went up theirs.

"Cassie?" Ginny's voice said from her room.

"Go on ahead 'Mione." I pushed myself up against the wall and let Hermione pass me.

"I'll leave a candle lit for you." She said as Ginny poked her head out of her room.

"What is it Gin?" I asked the little ginger.

She shuffled on her feet and wrung her hands. Her eyes had bags underneath, and she just did not look like herself.

"I'm afraid." She finally whispered.

I looked at her in confusion before leading her down to the common room. Thankfully it was empty as I sat her on the couch. There was always a blanket on the back of the couch so I threw it around her shoulders.

"What are you afraid of, love?" I asked her, trying for a motherly tone.

"Of the monster." She whispered again.

I stared at her. Her eyes had started to glisten.

"The monster won't get you." I said, just as quietly.

"Not that monster." She shook her head and then avoided my gaze.

"Then what monster Ginny?" I asked.

She looked at me and the tears fell. I quickly wrapped my arm around her and held her. Her shoulders shook with quiet sobs as we sat in front of the fireplace.

"I won't let it hurt you. Whatever monster you're afraid of." I swore to her.

* * *

 **Shout outs!**

 **katie owl: Thank you! That means so much to me that she's not a 'carbon copy' of another character. I didn't want her to be a Mary-Sue either, because of her 'tragic past' and all that. So I really struggled, and am still struggling, with trying to make her a real 'character' rather than a fake one you know? I'm glad you're enjoying this story!**


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The next day I kept an eye as I saw Ginny. She was interacting with a strange girl. A blonde Ravenclaw who had the strangest earrings from what I could see. Ginny waved to me when she saw I was looking, I waved back.

 _'She looks better. But I need to keep a closer eye on her.'_ I thought, flicking a glance to Ron.

We were supposed to be in Herbology for the last lesson of the term, but a blizzard showed up overnight. Sprout wanted to fit socks and scarves on the Mandrakes. It, apparently, was a tricky operation she didn't want to entrust to anyone else. Especially now that Colin and Mrs. Norris were Petrified in the Hospital Wing.

So after breakfast, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I were in the common room. Hermione and Ron were playing wizards chess while Harry fretted next to the fire. I caught a glimpse of red hair and when I looked up Ginny was calmly walking out of the common room.

Something about how she walked and _looked_ gave me an uneasy feeling. I stood up.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked.

"To the library. I want to double check something." I tried to keep my shoulders from shrugging.

"Oh okay." Harry started to pace again.

I tried to keep my shoulders from shrugging. I didn't want them to know I was lying. As I walked away I tried to keep my pace even, I didn't want anyone to be suspicious of me.

As soon as I left the common room I looked over the banister to see Ginny was still walking at a leisurely pace. I tried my hardest to run after her softly. My shoes would hit the ground louder than I wanted so I finally just took them off. I left my stockings on so that they would soften the sound of my feet.

I made sure to keep Ginny a few yards ahead me so that I can easily hide if she randomly turns around. But I lost her somewhere on the second floor. I don't know how I lost her, but I did. I looked everywhere and couldn't think of where she could have gone.

After sometime of looking for Ginny I gave up and turned around a corner and threw a hand over my mouth. Nearly Headless Nick was floating in the air… but only he was black and laying down six inches off the ground. As I stepped closer I saw that his head was off and his face had an expression of shock.

I choked back a cry when I saw Justin Finch-Fletchley laying on the ground. I was crouching down next to him when I heard footsteps coming down the corridor. I looked up in fear and Harry stared at me.

He had just a few moments to look over the scene and then he looked back at me.

"Cassie-" He looked concerned but then a door slammed open and Peeves sprang out.

He didn't see me.

"Why, it's potty wee Potter!" Peeves cackled, bouncing around Harry.

I slowly got up, but instead of running I stayed where I stood. This was not going to look good for either of us. Especially since I still had my shoes in my hand.

"What's Potter up to? Why's Potter lurking-?" Peeves was somersaulting around and stopped halfway.

He spotted me standing in between Nick and Justin.

"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!" Peeves bellowed.

I flinched as door after door flew open in the corridor. I stayed near Justin, not wanting him to get stepped on. I had to fight to stay where I was before McGonagall threw a spell in the air and restored the silence.

"Everyone back into your classrooms now." She ordered.

I had ended up crouching over Justin to protect him from the feet. I had started to hear whispers over my head.

"Potter is controlling the monster. What if Zwart is the monster?"

"Zwart and Potter must be collaborating with the monster."

I kept my head down, focusing on Justin's brown eyes before I felt Professor Flitwick's small hand on my arm.

"Zwart we can take it from here." He said.

I nodded and finally scooted back away from Justin. I gave a shaky breath as McGonagall walked over to me and got down next to me as I sat in the corridor, my head between my legs. My hair had gone white from the shock of what I found.

Ernie Macmillan was sneering at Harry. And Harry was looking anywhere but at us. I finally got up off the floor and helped McGonagall up as well.

"I found them first. Harry showed up moments after I did." I said.

Macmillan turned his sneer into a look of disbelief as he looked at me, "don't try to protect him!"

"It's the truth." I said firmly, looking up at Harry who was finally looking back at me.

"That is just-" Macmillan started.

"That is enough. Mr. Macmillan, fan Sir Nearly Headless Nick up the stairs. We don't need all the students gawking at him." McGonagall conjured a large purple fan and handed it to the Hufflepuff.

Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra carried Justin up to the hospital wing. I barely noticed Peeves being dismissed by McGonagall but he had been.

"This way Potter, Zwart." McGonagall said when we were finally alone.

"Professor, I swear I didn't-" Harry's voice was strained.

"This is out of my hands, Potter." She said curtly.

I kept my distance from Harry as McGonagall escorted us to a familiar gargoyle statue.

"Lemon drop." McGonagall's voice was strained as well.

The gargoyle stepped aside and the staircase started move up. I chuckled dryly at the theatrical effects. Harry gave me a strange look.

"I didn't know it moved. I just walked up the stairs." I explained quietly.

Harry nodded stiffly as McGonagall stood one step higher than us. Harry was looking anywhere but at me. I closed my eyes and let my body sag for a little bit.

 _'How am I going to explain this to anyone?'_ I shook my shoes lightly.

"Miss Zwart, why are you holding your shoes?" McGonagall asked.

I opened my eyes to see she had half turned so that she can look at me.

"I thought someone was following me. So I took off my shoes in hopes they wouldn't hear where I was going." I said before I could think.

 _'That's pretty good.'_ I gave myself a mental pat on my back.

Harry's eyes narrowed but McGonagall seemed to believe me. I met Harry's gaze and saw in the reflection of his glasses that my hair was white. So I changed it back to the pink color I had decided to keep.

At the top of the staircase, Harry's face got paler. I wanted to stand closer to him, but he was clearly unhappy with me. McGonagall rapped in the door with her knuckles and then she turned around and left us. I let Harry enter first, since it was his first time being in Dumbledore's office.

I walked up to Fawkes, who was looking like he was going to die soon. I started to gently him pet the top of his head. Harry wandered over to where the sorting hat was sitting and put it on.

"You should just get on with it." I whispered to the phoenix.

Fawkes crooned weakly to me.

Harry suddenly threw the hat back in its place suddenly and walked slowly towards me and Fawkes.

"The last thing my luck needs is that bird to die." Harry said.

Fawkes burst into flames at the moment.

I pulled my hand back and just started to giggle as Harry looked at me in shock and just hung his head. My giggles turned into full blown laughter.

Dumbledore chose that moment to come in and I was bent over, still laughing.

"Professor!" Harry gasped as I quieted my giggles. "Your bird - I couldn't do anything - he just caught fire -"

Harry was astonished when Dumbledore smiled and I knelt by the pile of ash on the floor.

"About time too." Dumbledore gestured to Harry to stand closer. "He's been looking dreadful for days; I've been telling him to get a move on."

"Fawkes is a phoenix." I said as an ugly newborn bird head poked out from the ashes.

"Phoenixes burst into flames when it is time for them die and are reborn from the ashes." Dumbledore said as he conjured up two chairs in front of his desk.

"It was quite a shame you had to see him on a Burning Day, he's really very handsome most of the time, wonderful red and gold plumage. Fascinating creatures, phoenixes. They can carry immensely heavy loads, their tears have healing powers, and they make highly _faithful_ pets."

I tilted my head to the side when he stressed 'faithful'.

Just as we all got settled into our chairs, the door burst open and Hagrid came in. I noticed he had a dead rooster in his hand.

"It wasn' Harry, Professor Dumbledore!" Hagrid was urgent. "I was talkin' ter him _seconds_ before that kid was found, he never had time sir -"

I sank in on myself a little. Harry had someone to defend him, I didn't.

"- it can't've bin him, I'll swear it in front o' the Ministry o' Magic if I have to -" Hagrid was clearly agitated.

"Hagrid, I -"

"An' even though I didn' see Cassie, I know she couldn' have done it either!" Hagrid suddenly added.

I looked up at him in shock.

"Yeh've got the wrong kids, sir, I _know_ they would never -"

 _"Hagrid!"_ Dumbledore said loudly, cutting off Hagrid. "I do _not_ think that Harry and Cassie attacked those people."

I gave a noticeable sigh of relief.

"Oh." Hagrid's arms fell limply to his side.

Rooster feathers fluttered around him and onto Dumbledore's desk.

"Right. I'll wait outside then, Headmaster." Hagrid gave a sheepish nod and then left Dumbledore's office.

"You don't think it was me, Professor?" Harry repeated, hope in his voice.

"No, Harry, I don't. And I don't believe Cassie has anything to do with the attacks as well." Dumbledore said somberly, waving his wand and making the feathers vanish.

"But I still want to talk to you two." He said as Harry gave a sigh in relief.

Dumbledore paused, he looked between me and Harry. He put the tips of his fingers together as he stared over his half-moon spectacles.

"I must ask you, Harry, Cassie, whether there is anything you'd like to tell me," he finally said in a gentle voice. "Anything at all."

I looked down.

 _'We're brewing a polyjuice potion in the second floor girls bathroom. Harry can talk to snakes. I think Ginny has something to do with the attacks. But I don't have **proof**.'_ I thought to myself.

"No there isn't anything." I said, finally looking up at him.

"Nothing at all." Harry agreed, giving a glance in my direction.

Dumbledore gave us one finally look before nodding deeply.

"Very well. I recommend you both return to Gryffindor Tower together, you never do know what's behind the corner." He said, but he looked at me when he said it.

 _'Dumbledore is a cryptic. Oh boy, it's a clue for our situation.'_ I sighed as we both stood up.

"Harry." Dumbledore called just as we reached the door.

"I'll wait outside." I tilted my lips up in a half smile and stepped out the door.

I figured that would be a good chance to put my shoes back on. Harry wasn't in there for long. I barely had time to put my left shoe on when the door opened again and Harry just stared at me.

I slowly stood up and we both stood on the stairs as it spiraled it's way down.

"What were you really doing with your shoes off?" Harry finally asked as we entered the empty corridor.

I closed my eyes and breathed just a for second.

"I was following Malfoy. I thought that if I followed him, I would be able to see him open the Chamber, but I lost him. I took off my shoes so that he wouldn't hear me following him." I lied, keeping my shoulders as still as possible.

"Why didn't you just say that when you left the common room?" He asked.

"I honestly did go to the library. I wanted to check if 'A History of Magic' was in. I was hoping it would be in so that Hermione could check on the Chamber of Secrets she thought she read in it." I said.

 _'I need to be careful with my lies.'_ I grimaced when Harry didn't look at me.

We didn't say anything the rest of the walk to the common room. When we entered the room Hermione and Ron had managed to pull us both to the side and they questioned us what had happened. Harry, thankfully, didn't say anything about where I was before.

"When I found Ernie in the library, Cassie was already leaving so we were walking back together when we ran into Hagrid. And then we found Nearly Headless Nick and Justin.." Harry explained.

I put my shoulder against his and he pushed me away.

"Blimey." Ron ran his hand through his hair.

"Yeah." Harry and I both agreed.

* * *

The sign up sheet for Christmas was passed around again. I passed it to Neville, who quickly signed it.

"At this rate, we'll be the only ones left." Ron told us as he skimmed the paper. "Us, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. What a jolly holiday it's going to be."

"No kidding." I agreed as I drank my orange juice.

Harry had started to talk to me again, I don't think he believed my Malfoy story. And I was okay with that. I would eventually tell him the truth. I just needed to prove to myself that I was wrong about Ginny.

As we left the Great Hall to go to our classes before the end of the term, Fred and George had jumped up from their places and started to guide us to where we were going.

"Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through!" They started to shout as they pushed other students out of the way.

Harry had a slight smile on his face, and that made me feel better about the growing situation.

All day, we had Fred and George to guide us. George would sometimes take a moment to just walk next to me. He didn't know the full story, which I was grateful for since I didn't want him to avoid me.

My heart had started beat harder when I'm around him and I noticed I giggled more rather than laughed. I think he started to notice to because he was more comfortable with throwing his arm around my shoulders and he would grin when I pressed closer to his side. I was still twelve years old though, and I really wanted to wait until my third year of being at Hogwarts to look at him as a prospective boyfriend… But since it was only two more months until my birthday…

That night after dinner, Harry and I were helping each other with essay's when Percy had started a lecture.

"It is _not_ a laughing matter." Percy said coldly.

"Oh get out of the way Percy." George rolled his eyes as he dropped a pillow next to Harry and I and laid down, putting it under his chest so that he could listen to our conversation.

"Harry's going to be in a hurry to the Chamber of Secrets for a cup of tea with his fanged servant." Fred chortled.

"Oh don't." Ginny wailed from where she was sitting.

I looked up at her sharply and she was holding her diary close to her. We all settled down after that, Percy threatened to send a letter to Mrs. Weasley and I rolled my eyes when he said it.

George chuckled at me and I blushed with a grin to him. Harry had a knowing smile on his face when he got up and took his school stuff with him.

"So, I know I said I wanted to wait until next year." I started, biting my lip nervously.

George sat up and put the pillow off to the side, looking right into my eyes.

"But since I am turning thirteen in two months, I figured-" I tried to keep my eye contact with him but he had that stupid grin on his face.

"Oh stop that!" I laughed.

"So in two months, on your birthday. I can take you out on a date?" He asked, his grin softening.

"Yes you can." I nodded.

He stood up so fast, I flinched from the sudden motion and he held a hand down to me. I grabbed it and he helped me up to my feet.

"If that's the case, then you best believe that I will start planning the best first date for you, Princess." He said softly to me, bending down to plant a soft kiss on my cheek.

I am pretty sure my face was as pink as my hair because when he pulled away he laughed with a wink, and he and Fred went up the stairs to the boys dormitory.

"That was lovely." Harry was suddenly at my shoulder.

I didn't jump that time, but I did give him a playful slap on the shoulder while we both laughed.

"What was tHAT ABOUT?" Ron shouted.

* * *

We found ourselves alone in the common room, the boys were playing Exploding Snap, while I was reading a book with Hermione. Lockhart had hinted at another quiz and so I had a quill, and Hermione had enchanted the ink to be more like a highlighter, which I appreciated since she and I were both highlighting in our books what we thought was going to be on the quiz.

"I don't understand how you're suddenly all about passing his class?" Ron asked as he put down a card.

"Do you not realize how easy it is to pass? Everything we need to know, is in his books. Yeah I don't like how we're not learning how to defend ourselves against the Dark Arts but it's an easy passing grade." I explained as I highlighted another line about Lockhart wanting peace between the misunderstood werewolves and regular wizards.

"I guess?" Ron rolled his eyes as Harry put down a card carefully.

"I think we're learning a lot." Hermione said, turning a page in her book.

"We know." Harry, Ron and I said just as the cards snapped.

* * *

Christmas Eve. I was sitting in front of the fireplace. I had a blanket wrapped my shoulders and I was enjoying the warmth of the fire on my face.

"Cassie?" Ginny's voice asked softly from the staircase.

"What are you doing up this late?" I asked her as she slowly walked over to me.

"I can't sleep." She said as I opened up the blanket so that it could wrap around her shoulders as well.

"What's going on?" I asked once she was settled on the couch.

"I am scared." Her lip quivered.

"Ginny, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on." I pulled her closer to myself.

"I can't." She whispered.

I paused.

I hadn't thought of that. In this world of magic, why wouldn't there be ways to prevent someone from spilling secrets.

"Then throw it away from you." I said.

She pulled away to look at me, her brown eyes huge.

"Whatever it is you're afraid of. Throw it away. It can't hurt you if you can't touch it or it can't touch you. It may be hard at first, but once it's gone you won't be afraid." I explained.

Her eyes watered up and she started to cry softly.

"I'm here." I said as we sat in front of the fire together.

* * *

 **Shout out to alistark94 for favoriting, and following me!**

 **Reviews:**

 **MoonlitWinter: I'm glad you weren't disappointed! And I'm sure your surprised because of Cassie's "I would have shot you in the back" line. I want to try to convey that she's a Gryffindor but she's also got those unGryffindor like traits, like Pettigrew with him turning the Potter's in. But we've also got to remember that she's still a child, and children don't necessarily play fair.**

 **Rafaela Tord: You reviewed the first book and this one. I'm glad you loved the first book! And I hope you enjoy this one as it goes! And don't worry, I update every Sunday!**


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Christmas day I woke up on the couch by myself. Hermione was shaking my shoulder and she was fully dressed.

"Come on, let's go wake up the boys." She had an extra bounce in her step as I stumbled after her.

"Why are you dressed?" I asked, running my tongue over my dry lips.

"I went to check on the potion. Why didn't you come up to bed?" She asked as we reached our dormitory and started to stack presents into my waiting arms.

"Ginny and I were talking, I must have fallen asleep." I yawned as she started picked up what was left and carried them out of the dormitory.

"How is she doing?" Hermione asked as we went down the stairs.

"She's doing alright. She's feeling overwhelmed with being away from home, but she'll be fine." I answered, not sure if it was the truth or not.

Hermione nodded as we started to climb up to the boys dormitory room.

"Wake up." Hermione said loudly as we entered the boys' room.

"Hermione - Cassie - you're not supposed to be in here -" Ron yawned as Hermione opened the curtains to brighten the room.

"Merry Christmas to you too." Hermione said as she tossed a present to him. "I've been up for nearly an hour, adding more lacewings to the potion. It's ready."

"And like I wasn't up here last year." I rolled my eyes.

I dropped my presents on a random bed and handed Ron his present. I got him a chessboard since his was looking battered. It had a compartment underneath to hold his chessmen.

For Harry, I got him a matching pillowcase to go with his blanket from last year. I honestly didn't know what else to do for him.

For Hermione, I got her my favorite book _'Grimms Fairy Tales'._ I'm positive she has already read it, but now she has her own copy.

I opened up my sweater from Mrs. Weasley first so that I can put it on as I opened up the rest of my presents. Only, it was a dark green color and it was huge on me. Versus the gray one that fit me last year.

Ron started to laugh as the sleeves fell past my hips and the collar of the sweater dipped down.

"She must have switched yours and Charlie's this year!" Ron howled.

We all laughed as I kept the sweater on. I figured I'd forward it to him later that day after we were done opening presents.

From Hermione, I got two different headbands. One was a plan black one with an owl charm hanging off a leather string and some feathers hanging down off of one side. She had also gotten me an enchanted headband that was a moving galaxy.

Harry had gotten me another charm for my bracelet, this one was a stone shape with fire emblem in the center.

 _'Thank you for last year.'_ Was all the note said.

I attached that one next to the broomstick.

Ron had gotten me a box of pumpkin pasties that I took one of and started to eat as I opened up a box of fireworks from Fred and George.

 _'For the next time.'_ The note they left said.

I had written to Charlotte that I didn't want anything for Christmas mostly because I didn't need anything, but she had given me small book titled 'How to Style Your Hair!' with a note,

 _'I know you may not want it, but I think you would appreciate this in the future._

 _Love Charlotte'_

I started flipping through it and looking at the different hairstyles. I decided to hide that away from Ron and Harry since I wouldn't put it past them to tease me about it.

Hermione and I took our presents back into our dormitory and I switched out the new sweater for the one Mrs. Weasley made last year. I wrote a quick note to Charlie saying how it must have gotten switched up on accident. I carried the package downstairs to breakfast so that if we got any more mail I could just send it off.

"What's that?" George asked when he sat down next to me and Fred sat across from him.

"Mrs. Weasley got mine and Charlie's sweater mixed up. I'm hoping Barnabas will come in and I can send him off to Romania." I explained through a mouth full of eggs.

They both nodded and started to eat breakfast as well. Percy even joined us along with Ginny who looked slightly better. She gave me a grin as she sat next to Ron, blushing when Harry looked at her.

Barnabas came down with Hedwig for a nibble of sausage and I gave him the parcel to take to Charlie. He gave my nibble on my nose and took off, Hedwig behind him.

"Do you think she's going with him?" Harry asked me.

"I think so." I nodded with a smile.

The rest of the day was spent with us playing in the snow and warming up by the fire in the common room. Ginny played Exploding Snap with Harry while Ron kicked my butt at chess.

"You have a really good defense." Ron said after he won the fifth time.

"How do I get a really good offense?" I chuckled dryly as I helped one of my pawns put himself back together.

"I don't know how to teach that, that's just something you'll have to learn." He shrugged as my chessmen begrudgingly got back on the board.

"If you guys don't want to go again, we can take a break." I said softly to my men.

They all just collapsed on the board as Ron's pieces either laughed or went to comfort mine. Ron and I both chuckled as well as we went down to the Great Hall for dinner.

I was wearing the owl headband Hermione had given me. The owl didn't move and for that I was grateful as I didn't want to hide all of my headbands from the muggles I lived with.

I also did a few practice curls with my wand from the book Charlotte had given me. I did the classic curl since I wanted to try them all first, before deciding on if I wanted to curl my hair or straighten it.

That night, the Great Hall was magnificently decorated by Hagrid and Flitwick. The Christmas tree were enchanted with frost and snow. Holly and mistletoe streamers were across the ceiling and warm enchanted snow was falling down halfway into the Hall.

During dinner, Dumbledore was leading everyone in his favorite Christmas carols. Hagrid was guffawing with each song and cup of eggnog he had. McGonagall did not look pleased when he would bump her elbow while he rocked in his seat.

I would have to advert my gaze from Percy's chest. I couldn't keep my sniggers to myself and Percy was confused. George and Fred had taken Percy's Prefect badge and bewitched it to say 'Pinhead.'

Malfoy was making comments about Harry's sweater even though we were all wearing them. I gave Crabbe and Goyle a small wave when I hoped Malfoy wasn't watching. Goyle gave a sniff while Crabbe gave me a small wave back.

As I finished my third helping of pudding, Hermione pulled Ron out of his seat. So I nudged Harry and we both followed them out of the Great Hall.

"We still need a bit of the people you're changing into." Hermione said as soon as we were away from everyone. "And obviously, it'll be best if you can get something of Crabbe's and Goyle's; they're Malfoy's best friends, he'll tell them anything. And we also need to make sure the real Crabbe and Goyle don't burst in on us while we're interrogating him."

"I suppose you've got a plan?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"I've filled these with a simple Sleeping Draught." She held up two plump chocolate cakes.

I looked at Harry and Ron and they both had stupefied faces.

I was impressed with her plan. I watched as Harry and Ron gave each other doubtful looks.

"Hermione, I don't think-" Harry started.

"That could go seriously wrong-" Ron spoke at the same time.

"Can you two think of anything better?" I asked, interrupting them both.

"All you have to do is make sure Crabbe and Goyle find them. You know how greedy they are, they're bound to eat them. Once they're asleep, pull out a few of their hairs and hide them in a broom closet."

They both looked at each other and then shook their heads in response.

"The potion will be useless without Crabbe's and Goyle's hair." I said.

"You do _want_ to investigate Malfoy, don't you?" Hermione had the same steely glint McGonagall had in her eyes.

"Oh, all right, all right." Harry sighed. "But what about you? Whose hair are you ripping out?"

"I've already got mine!" Hermione answered brightly.

She pulled out a tiny bottle with a single hair in it.

"Remember Millicent Bulstrode wrestling with me at the Dueling Club? She left this on my robes when she was trying to strangle me! And she's gone home for Christmas - so I'll just have to tell the Slytherins I've decided to come back." Hermione explained.

She bustled off to go check on the Polyjuice Potion and I looked at my two guy friends.

"Have you ever heard of a plan where so many things can go wrong?" Ron asked.

"Let me know if you've got something better." I shrugged as I hurried after Hermione.

I didn't want her to suddenly get attacked by herself. Even though I doubted anything would happen with it being Christmas, and Hermione knew how to take care of herself.

"Have you figured out who you were changing into?" Hermione asked when I linked arms with her.

"I thought it would be better, and safer, if I didn't go." I answered.

"How?" Hermione asked.

"Well there are four of us and if Crabbe and Goyle show up with Bulstrode and whoever I choose to be it may be suspicious. However, if just Bulstrode and Crabbe and Goyle show up." I explained as we entered the second floor corridor.

"I don't know…" Hermione said thoughtfully.

"I know you can't always be the one with a plan, but this is the best adjustment I can make to your current one. I'm not going to go, so you'll just have to tell me what you find out." I said as I opened the bathroom door for us.

Hermione didn't say anything as I let her walk ahead of me. The sink we had to step by was still giving me the creeps and I didn't want her thinking I was scared of a sink. I wasn't scared of the sink. I just did not like the way it made me feel. It was just a sink.

Hermione opened the stall door and a thick black cloud released into the bathroom.

"Oh." I said as I covered my mouth with my robe.

"It won't hurt you." Hermione had turned around and seen my reaction.

"It just smells terrible." I said, not daring to take my robe down from my face.

We stood there for a bit, Hermione occasionally stirring the Polyjuice Potion.

The door opened and I looked back to see Harry and Ron had entered the bathroom.

" 'Mione." I said, opening the stall door.

"Did you get them?" Hermione asked, turning to the two boys.

Harry showed us Goyle's hair.

"Good. And I sneaked these spare robes out of the laundry," Hermione pulled a small sack out from a different stall. "You'll need bigger sized once you're Crabbe and Goyle."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared into the potion. It looked like mud bubbling.

"I'm sure I've done everything right." Hermione said nervously, rereading the splotched page of _'Moste Potente Potions'._ "It looks like the book says it should … once we've drunk it, we'll have exactly an hour before we change back into ourselves."

"Except for Cassie." Ron flicked his head back towards me.

"I won't be going." I said, crossing my arms.

"What?" Harry turned around fast.

"Why not?" Ron turned just as fast as Harry had.

"I don't think it would be safe. If Bulstrode showed up with Crabbe and Goyle along with a fourth person, it may look suspicious. If just the three of you show up it won't look so bad." I explained.

"But we were supposed to go together." Ron had a slight panicked look on his face.

"It'll be okay, you guys can all come back and tell me what you find out." I reached out and put a hand on Ron's shoulder.

He looked at me and gave a thoughtful nod.

"Now what do we do?" He asked, turning back to Hermione.

Harry reached back and held his hand out for me. I grabbed it and stepped closer behind him so that his hand wasn't stretched out. We both squeezed each other's hands as we held them.

"We separate it into three glasses and add the hairs." Hermione said, her voice shaking.

She pulled out a ladle out of her bag and put large dollops of the potion into each of the glasses she had lined up on the tank of the toilet. With one of the glasses she shakily shook Millicent Bulstrode's hair out of its bottle and into the first glass.

It made a strange hissing noise and a second later, it turned a sick sort of yellow.

"Urgh - essence of Millicent Bulstrode," Ron was eyeing it with loathing. "Bet it tastes disgusting."

"Add yours, then," Hermione handed a cup to Ron and then to Harry.

I let go of Harry's hand and took a step back.

Harry dropped Goyle's hair into his, and Ron dropped Crabbe's into his glass. Both glasses hissed; Goyle's hair had turned the potion a khaki shade of a booger, while Crabbe's turned into a dark muddy brown.

"Hang on." Harry said as Ron and Hermione went to take a drink.

"We'd better not all drink them in here… Once we turn into Crabbe and Goyle we won't fit. And Millicent Bulstrode's no pixie." Harry explained.

"Good thinking." Ron nodded as I stepped out of the stall completely. "We should take separate stalls."

Harry took the stall to the left, and Ron took one after Harry. I stared and gave all three of my friends nods before the closed the door and locked them.

"Ready?" Harry called from his stall.

"Ready," Hermione and Ron confirmed.

"One - two - three -"

My heart dropped into my stomach. I was nervously starting to chew on my knuckle. The skin was broken but my teeth may have cause slight bleeding from how nervous I was.

""Are you two okay?" Goyle's rasp of a voice came out of Harry's stall.

"Yeah," answered Crabbe's voice.

Hermione didn't say anything as Goyle and Crabbe came out of their stalls. I may have bit my knuckle harder to contain my shock. I walked up to Crabbe as he looked at me. I slowly held my hand up to his hair and felt it, I poked a finger into his cheek.

"Stop staring." Crabbe said.

"Sorry." I said sheepishly, looking up at Goyle.

"It worked." I said.

"This is unbelievable." Crabbe said, walking to the mirrors and poking his face.

"We'd better get going." Goyle loosened Harry's watch and he handed it to me. "We've still got to find out where the Slytherin Common Room is. I only hope we can find someone to follow…"

"You don't know how bizarre it is to see Goyle _thinking_." Crabbe said when they looked at each other.

"Hermione." I knocked on her door.

"I-" Hermione's voice was high pitched, but it was still her own. "I don't think I'm going to come after all. You go on without me."

"Hermione, we know Millicent Bulstrode's ugly, no one's going to know it's you -" Crabbe said, rolling his eyes.

"No - really - I don't think I'll come. You two hurry up, you're wasting time-" Hermione said from within her stall.

"Go on you two. I'll stay with her." I said, grabbing Goyle's arm and leading him out of the bathroom.

"Hermione are you okay?" Goyle asked as we were leaving.

"Fine - I'm fine - go on." Hermione said, her voice starting to thicken.

"We'll meet you back here, all right?" Goyle looked down at the watch I was holding.

"Go!" I pushed them out of the bathroom.

"Try to lose points for Slytherin, won't you?" I winked as I closed the door behind them.

I sighed as I listened to them walk away.

"The last time we were alone in a bathroom together, you were locked in a stall and I was doing homework." I said to the boy free bathroom.

Hermione let out a laugh but quickly muffled herself when her voice cracked.

"That was when there was a troll in the dungeon. The ironic part is that are two boys who are as dumb as trolls heading there now." I laughed.

Hermione did laugh at that one. And she started to wail.

"Let me in." I said, knocking on the stall.

There was a sniffle and the stall unlocked. I cracked it open and there was a… cat?

"Hermione?" I asked, not entering the stall.

Myrtle chose that moment to pop out of the toilet. I watched her eyes widen and she did something that I didn't think she knew how to.

Moaning Myrtle laughed.

"What happened to you?" She asked between giggles.

"Hermione?" I asked again, putting my hand on Hermione's shoulder.

The ears on top of her head twitch back at me, the tail coming out from under the skirt flicked against my legs.

"Oh no." I said, watching the tail.

Hermione turned around, and instead of a human face… Hermione's face had taken a tabby look to it. She had whiskers coming out of her face, close to her nose. Her eyes had transformed to amber eyes and they were filled with water.

"Millicent Bulstrode has a cat." She whispered.

"Okay, okay." I took a deep breath and put a hand to my mouth.

"Does the book say anything about changing into an animal?" I asked after a few moments of silence.

Well as silent as we can get with Myrtle laughing at us.

"I don't remember." Hermione gestured to the book behind her.

Her hands had tried to turn into paws but they were distorted. She had fur growing from the top but the palms of her hands, they were the soft padding of a cats paw but the padding stopped going into her fingers, and nails were longer clawlike, but they were mix of flesh and fur.

"Do you hurt?" I asked, reaching for book and looking over the page.

"No. I feel funny though." She said as I gestured for her to sit on the toilet seat.

"You're not used to those kinds of changes, I don't think I can make a furry tail. But I'm sure with enough practice I can get a tail as long as yours." I said, slightly pulling down my skirt and showing her my little tail nub I can make.

She nodded as she took deep breaths.

"Let me see your cup." I looked up from the page.

She reached down to hand me her cup and I gave her the book to hold.

"I'm getting you some water, but I'm not leaving the bathroom." I told her as I left the stall.

"Okay." Hermione's voice was small.

I walked over to thinks and purposefully avoided the sink the made me feel gross inside. I walked back and gave her the now full cup of water.

"Take sips of it, don't drink it all. You're in shock." I said softly as Hermione handed me the book.

The page had a few tear stains on it so I shut it and put it in my bookbag. Hermione took a sip of her water, her hands were shaking.

"So, since I didn't see anything about not changing into an animal in the potion. I think we should wait the hour and see what happens." I said as I sat down against the stall door.

Hermione nodded as she took deep breaths.

* * *

I had Harry's watch in my hand, and the hour was up. Hermione was waiting anxiously as I looked between the watch and her.

"Hermione-" I stood up.

"Hermione, come out, we've got loads to tell you-" Ron came crashing through the bathroom door.

"Go away!" Hermione squeaked, realization in her face.

"What's the matter?" Ron asked through the stall door. "You must be back to normal by now, we are-"

Myrtle floated through Hermione and I and out the door. I shivered from the weird feeling ghosts leave and opened the door a crack.

"Oooooh, wait till you see," Myrtle told the boys. "It's _awful_ -"

"Cassie, is Hermione alright?" Harry asked when I stepped out, but blocked their view.

"Hermione… Hermione is going to need to go to the hospital wing." I sighed, looking back as Hermione pulled her robes over her head, covering her ears.

"What's up?" Ron asked, uncertainty on his face. "Have you still got Millicent's nose or something?"

Hermione had pushed us out into the main bathroom. I put my hand on her shoulder as she let her cloak fall.

"It was a c-cat hair!" Hermione wailed.

"Millicent must have a cat." I explained, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. "The potion isn't supposed to be used for animal transformations."

"Uh-oh." Ron said.

"You'll be teased something _dreadful!_ " Myrtle was too happy with this situation.

"It's okay, Hermione." Harry tried to be helpful. "We'll take you to the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey never asks too many questions…"

"I don't want to go." Hermione shook her head rapidly.

" 'Mione, I know you don't want to go, but we don't know how to get you back. Madam Promfrey has managed to regrow Harry's bones, and she dealt with Ron's dragon bite last year. If you don't want anyone to see you, she'll put a cover on for you." I said, putting myself between her and the boys.

"But what if someone _sees?_ " She whispered, frightened.

"Use your robe. Hold your tail, and bow your head. I'll guide you to the Hospital Wing." I said softly, pulling the hood of her robe over her ears.

Hermione sniffed before nodding to me.

"Harry, do a quick wash of the cauldron, I'll come back for it in the morning." I said as I gathered up what I could before linking my arm through Hermione's.

Ron helped Harry with the potion makings, I held Hermione's arm as she shook next to me.

"Okay, let's get you to Madam Promfrey." I whispered to Hermione as we left the bathroom.

It was mostly me dragging her to the Hospital Wing. Harry walked next to me and Ron was on Hermione's side. After what felt like forever, Ron was opening the Hospital Wing doors and Harry was heading towards Madam Promfrey's quarters.

"Here, lay in this bed." I took Hermione to a bed, away from Colin Creevey who was still laying in the same position he was Petrified in.

Hermione sniffed as Harry lead Madam Promfrey to us.

"Oh dear." Madam Promfrey put a hand to her mouth when she saw Hermione.

"Can you help her?" Ron asked.

I sat down on the bed, putting an arm around Hermione as she hid her face in her hands.

"I can, but it will may take some time. Cassie, will you help me?" Madam Promfrey gently pulled Hermione's hands away from her face before leading me over to her medicine cabinet.

"I'll be right back." I said, gently sliding my hand over Hermione's shoulders and following Madam Promfrey.

Madam Promfrey didn't say anything as she started to hand me pajamas and a blanket for Hermione.

"It was Polyjuice Potion, but instead of a human hair, she had a cat hair. She didn't know until after she drank it." I murmured under my breath.

Madam Promfrey looked at me with wide eyes, "what are you children getting into?" She asked.

I grinned sheepishly as she pulled out a bottle from the top shelf and lead me back to Hermione.

"You'll need to start taking this every day." Madam Promfrey poured a cup of the antidote she had in her bottle.

"Okay." Hermione said quietly as I pulled the curtains around Hermione so that she could change into the pajamas I had placed on the bed.

I stood outside in between Harry and Ron. I yawned and Harry put an arm around my shoulders, the way Fred and George do.

"Hermione, we've got to get going. We don't want to get in trouble, and Cassie is tired." Harry said just as the curtain was pulled aside to let us in.

"Okay, thank you Cassie." Hermione got into the bed with a yawn as well.

"Of course 'Mione." I smiled tiredly.

"We'll be back in the morning." Ron waved as we left her makeshift room.

"I can't believe Hermione's a cat!" Ron said as we left the Hospital Wing.

"I know!" I giggled as Harry removed his arm from my shoulders.

"How did you manage to keep a straight face?" Ron asked as we started up the moving staircase.

"She didn't need someone laughing at her." I answered.

"Oh." He said thoughtfully.

* * *

Weeks had passed and the new rumours going around were saying that Hermione had been attacked; so they wouldn't leave her alone. Everyone had to go and see if she really had been Petrified, so Madam Promfrey had left the curtains up around her so that the students wouldn't see her.

Every evening, Harry, Ron, and I would take Hermione the day's school work.

"If I'd sprouted whiskers, I'd take a break from work." Ron said one day as I pulled out my Herbology notes.

"Don't be silly, Ron. I've got to keep up." Hermione said briskly.

Her whiskers had finally gone away, her fur was still receding and her eyes weren't yet her brown.

"I don't suppose you've got any new leads?" Hermione asked in a whisper as Madam Promfrey walked away after pouring her a new cup of whatever antidote she was taking.

"Nothing." Harry answered gloomily.

"I was so _sure_ it was Malfoy." Ron must have said for the hundredth time.

"What's that?" Harry asked, pointing to something glittering from under Hermione's pillow.

"Just a get well card." Hermione answered hastily. trying to shove it under her pillow.

Ron was to quick to grab it before she could get it under the pillow.

 _"To Miss Granger, wishing you a speedy recovery, from your concerned teacher, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming-Smile Award."_

"He wrote his entire title?" I asked in disgust.

"You sleep with this under your _pillow?_ " Ron asked with the same amount of disgust I had.

Before Hermione could answer Madam Promfrey came over saying she needed to take her medicine and rest.

"Is Lockhart the smarmiest bloke you've ever met or what?" Ron asked as we were headed back up to Gryffindor Tower.

"He is." I nodded in agreement.

We didn't get much farther in our conversation. A floor above us, there was an angry shout.

"That's Filch." Harry muttered as we hurried up the stairs and out of sight.

"You don't think someone else's been attacked?" Ron asked.

I shook my head, "he would be shouting louder than that."

 _"- even more work for me! Mopping all night, like I haven't got enough to do! No, this is the final straw, I'm going to Dumbledore-"_ Filch was muttering loudly.

There was a slam of a door and he was gone.

"What was that about?" I asked as we poked our heads around the corner and looked at the water filled corridor.

The water was coming from Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. She was also wailing and it was echoing off the walls.

" _Now_ what's wrong with her?" Ron rolled his eyes.

"Let's go and see." Harry shrugged.

We picked up our robes and waded through the water.

"Wasn't there water that night of Mrs Norris' attack?" I asked absentmindedly.

Neither of my friends answered me. Instead Ron held the door open for me and Harry. When we entered the bathroom, the walls and floor were soaking wet. The toilets were overflowing, and the sinks were all turned on and must be plugged with something.

"What's up, Myrtle?" Harry asked, venturing farther into the bathroom.

"Who's that?" Myrtle's voice sounded like she was in her toilet. "Come to throw something else at me?"

"Why would I throw something at you?" Harry asked.

"Who threw away what?" I asked Ron.

Ron shrugged at me and followed behind Harry.

"Don't ask me!" Myrtle shouted, flying out of her toilet and sending a wave of water to the already drenched floor. "Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me…"

"But it can't hurt you if someone throws something at you." Harry looked back at me and I stared at him curiously. "I mean, it'd just go right through you, wouldn't it?"

The sound my palm made against my forehead made Ron snigger next to me.

"Let's all throw books at Myrtle because she can't feel it! Ten points if you can get it through her stomach! Fifty points if you can get it through her head! Well, ha, ha, ha! What a lovely game I _don't_ think!" Myrtle shrieked.

"Who threw it at you, anyway?" Ron had stepped forward.

" _I_ don't know… I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death, and it fell right through the top of my head." Myrtle quieted down but she took turns glaring at each of us in turn.

"Where is it?" I asked, looking around curiously.

"It's over there, it got washed out…" Myrtle pointed to the other side of the bathroom and the flew back into her toilet.

We all looked over in the direction she had pointed and my stomach dropped. Under the sink that gave me the creeps, was a book. The same book I saw Ginny holding at various times throughout the year.

Harry stepped forward to pick it up and Ron had flung out an arm to hold him back.

"Don't." I said from behind them.

"What?" Harry asked, looking at Ron and then at me.

"Are you crazy? It could be dangerous." Ron said.

 _"Dangerous?"_ Harry laughed. "Come off it, how could it be dangerous?"

"You'd be surprised." Ron was sharing a look with me before turning back to Harry. "Some of the books the Ministry's confiscated - Dad's told me - there was one that burned your eyes out. And everyone who read _Sonnets of a Sorcerer_ spoke in limericks for the rest of their lives. And some old witch in Bath had a book that you could _never stop reading!_ You just had to wander around with your nose in it, trying to do everything one-handed. And-"

"I think that's enough, Ron." I put a hand on his shoulder before stepping over to the Harry's other side.

"The point is, we don't know what is in it exactly. We should just leave it and get Dumbledore, or somebody to come and pick it up just in case it has Dark Magic." I said, looking at Harry with a hard look.

"Okay. Okay." Harry sighed.

Just as Ron and I had gotten him to the door, he spun around and leapt for the book.

"Harry!" Ron and I both shouted.

We both froze as he picked up the book. And nothing happened to him.

"Look, I'm not possessed." Harry shook his hands at us before turning his attention to the book.

Ron and I both looked at each other before I rolled my eyes and folded my arms against my chest. Ron walked over to Harry, looking at the book as well.

"Hang on." Ron said, looking at the cover. "I know that name… T. M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago."

My memory flashed to when we shared that detention together.

"How on earth d'you know that?" Harry asked, amazement in his voice.

"Filch made him polish the shield fifty times because he burped slugs all over." I said, remembering that incident that got me ahead of Ron.

Harry peeled the pages back. He showed us the empty pages.

"Why is it empty?" I asked.

"He never wrote in it." Harry said in disappointment.

"I wonder why someone wanted to flush it away?" Ron asked.

 _' "Throw it away from you." '_ My voice echoed back to me.

"I have no idea." I eyed the diary more carefully.

"He must've been Muggle-born," Harry said, looking at the back cover. "To have bought a diary from Vauxhall Road…"

"Well, it's not much use to you." Ron said, dropping his voice as they walked over to me. "Fifty points if you can get it through Myrtle's head."

I snorted at Ron's joke as Harry pocketed the diary.

* * *

Hermione had joined us at the table for dinner the day she was cleared. She didn't have any remnants of being a cat, and she was quite pleased with that. Everyone was welcoming her back as we ate. She sat next to me and even though I tried to be in the conversation we were having, my eyes kept wandering over to Ginny.

She looked happier with her friend in Ravenclaw. Her face was lighter and she was smiling more. I was just about to focus on what Hermione was telling me, but then I saw it. Across her face, was just a flicker of something and I knew she wasn't alright.

 _'It has to be a coincidence.'_ I shrugged as I turned to Hermione.

* * *

In the common Room, Harry was showing Hermione the book we had found in the bathroom.

"Oooh, it could have hidden powers." Hermione was more enthusiastic about the diary than Ron and I were.

"If it has, it's hiding them very well." Ron said. "Maybe it's shy. I don't know why you don't chuck it, Harry."

"I wish I knew why someone _did_ try to chuck it." Harry sighed, taking the book back from Hermione.

I tried focusing on the essay Hermione was supposed to be helping me with for Transfiguration. As much as I wanted to be _good_ at it, I was really struggling.

"I wouldn't mind knowing how Riddle got an award for special services to Hogwarts either." Harry added.

"Could've been anything." I shrugged.

"Maybe he got thirty O.W.L.s or saved a teacher from the giant squid. Maybe he murdered Myrtle; that would've done everyone a favor…" Ron shrugged.

"She's a ghost though?" I looked at Ron like he had two heads.

"Oh… Right." He shrugged.

"What?" Ron asked, looking between Harry and Hermione.

"Well, the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty year ago, wasn't it? That's what Malfoy said." Harry answered thoughtfully.

"Yeah…" Ron and I answered slowly.

"And _this diary_ is fifty years old." Hermione tapped the diary with excitement.

"So?" Ron asked.

"Oh, Ron, wake up." Hermione snapped, rolling her eyes. "We know the person who opened the Chamber last time was expelled _fifty years ago._ We know T. M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school _fifty years ago._ Well, what if Riddle got his special award _for catching the Heir of Slytherin?_ His diary would probably tell everything - where the Chamber is, and how to open it, and what sort of creature lives in it - the person who's behind the attacks this time wouldn't want that lying around, would they?" Hermione explained.

Ginny walked in the common room at that moment. I watched as she smiled as Fred and George greeted her and they started talking about something. I couldn't hear the conversation from across the room.

George noticed me looking and he gave me a sly wink. I grinned and gave him a wink back. Ever since he kissed me on the cheek, he hasn't really said anything to me. I'm sure he was trying to keep our first date a surprise. Ginny turned around when she saw George's grin get bigger. She smiled at me and we waved to each other.

"That's a brilliant theory, Hermione." Ron said dryly.

"Just one little flaw, _there's nothing written in the diary._ " I said just as dryly.

Hermione wasn't fazed but our tones, instead she was pulling her wand out of her bag, "it might be invisible ink!" She whispered.

She tapped the diary three times and said, _"Aparecium!"_

Nothing happened and I started to work on Snape's essay again. As I did so, Hermione rummaged through her bag once more and pulled out a bright red eraser.

"It's a Revealer, I got it in Diagon Alley." She explained when Ron gave her a funny look.

She rubbed on a page and nothing happened.

"I'm telling you, there's nothing to find in there." Ron stretched his hands over his head. "Riddle just got a diary for Christmas and couldn't be bothered filling it in."

* * *

 **So I want to apologize now for this long chapter. There's a reason for it, and it's the same reason why there is a double post of chapters in the same week. It'll technically be a triple post of chapters later this week.**

 **I may as well tell you, you'll get another chapter on... *Drum Roll* Valentine's Day! It is Cassie's birthday and it is the day of love so for the story to line up with the chapter I had to fast forward A LOT and so I hope that I will have better planning in the future!**

 **Shout out to afkz94 for doing the Magic Four with the following and favoriting of me and the story!**


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Over the next couple of weeks, George would randomly pop out of hidden passages and give me surprise kisses on the cheeks. The first couple of times I would blush and giggle, but now I was looking forward to it at every turn. Ron was still struggling with the thought that his older brother liked his friend, but he was slowly coming around to it.

The best time though, was when Fred, George, Harry and I would play tag behind Wood's back when he was focused on telling the main chasers what to do. George was the one who started it, and it's just been an ongoing game we've been playing.

Harry was supposed to be helping me improve my Seeker skills, but it was hard to teach me how to spot the Snitch when it would sometimes be right in front of me. Wood was just going to keep me on as a Chaser reserve if I couldn't keep up Harry. And I was alright with that.

Then night before my birthday, Harry and Fred had walked ahead when George threw his arm around my shoulders.

"What is it, sir George?" I looked up at the Weasley.

His skin was still shining from the sweat that had dried on it, his hair was wet and I did not want to run my fingers through it. Though I really would like too.

"Princess, would you do the honor of going out for dinner with me tomorrow night?" He didn't make a joke about it.

"I would be honored too." I said, wrapping my arm around his back as we walked back to the common room.

"Excellent." He had the biggest grin on his face.

When we entered the common room, no one else was there. Harry and Fred must've gone up to bed so that we could have a few more minutes together.

"George-" I turned to look up at him but paused in surprise.

He was aiming to kiss my cheek, but I turned and his lips were closer than we were both expecting. He quickly pulled away but I had grabbed his arm.

"Sorry." We both said, blushing.

"I don't want to take your first kiss." He admitted after a few seconds of silence.

"That's very sweet of you." I smiled up at him.

He grinned sheepishly down at me.

"Come here." I reached up to him.

He was so freaking tall.

George bent down so that I could cup the back of his neck. I pulled down and placed a kiss in the same place he had just placed mine.

"I'm not sure I'm ready to kiss you yet. But I love these cheek kisses." I whispered against his cheek.

George grinned and placed another kiss on my other cheek.

"I'll remember that." He said quietly.

My cheeks were hurting from all the grinning I was doing.

"You better get to bed. You still have a lot of growing to do." George pulled away and patted my head.

I rolled my eyes up at him, "maybe you need to let me catch up."

"No, I'll be staying ahead." He winked down at me.

I laughed as we said good night and climbed up our separate stairs. That night, as I slept. I had the most wonderful dream about him.

* * *

 _'I can't believe I overslept!'_ I was rushing to put on my shirt that I had on the chair.

Hermione had tried to wake me up. I remember that. She had shaken me awake but I had grumbled and turned over from her. So here I was, struggling to get my uniform on. I was grateful that I had put all of my assignments for the day in my bag so all I had to do was finish putting my hair in the galaxy headband I had gotten for Christmas.

Ariel followed me down the stairs and just as I was about the push the portrait open, Harry came down the boys' staircase.

"Good morning." I said as I opened the door and we both started to jog together to the Great Hall.

"Morning, you overslept too?" He asked.

"Yeah, Hermione tried to wake me up though. I think she had something for me?" I shrugged as Ariel lead the way down the stairs.

"Oh, it's your birthday, isn't it? Happy birthday." Harry nudged my shoulder with his.

"Thank you." I grinned at him as we entered the Great Hall.

It was pink.

The Great Hall was pink.

Harry and I both paused as we blinked at the change of color. There were large pink flowers lining along the walls, and there was heart-shaped confetti falling from the ceiling.

"Oh no." I sighed as Harry and I joined Hermione and Ron at the Gryffindor table.

Ron was looking disgusted, Hermione was giggling.

"What's going on?" Harry asked as we sat down.

Ron pointed up to the teachers table. Lockhart was wearing robes that matched the color of the flowers and the walls of the Great Hall.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart shouted when the Great Hall quieted down.

None of the other teachers looked pleased with him. Dumbledore though, he had a grin on his face and was enjoying the fluttering confetti.

"And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards! I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all - and it doesn't end here!" Lockhart was speaking in his exuberant way, with waves of his arms and flicking of his golden locks.

Lockhart clapped his hands and a dozen surly-looking dwarfs came into the Great Hall. However, the poor things were wearing golden wings and carrying harps.

"My friendly, card-carrying cupids!" Lockhart had a ridiculous smile on his face.

My face was turning into horror and I looked up at George, who's smile could have rivaled Lockhart's as he looked at me.

"Oh no." I whispered.

"They will be roving around the school today, delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizards I've ever met, the sly old dog!" Lockhart had waved to each professor in turn.

Snape had a sneer on his face that told anyone not to ask about Love Potion's. Flitwick was not making eye contact with anyone and the Hall burst into conversation as soon as Lockhart had sat down.

"Please, Hermione, tell me you weren't one of the forty-six." Ron groaned as we left the Great Hall.

I watched as George hurried up to one of the dwarves.

"Oh no." I sighed.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"George." I pointed at George as the dwarf started to repeat what he was saying.

"What's the matter, afraid of a little Valentine?" Harry grinned at me.

"Oh no, not a little one." I shook my head as we entered Transfiguration.

"I'm terrified of a big one." I said as McGonagall started the lesson.

Fifteen minutes in and the door swung open. It was the dwarf George was talking to earlier.

"Cassie Zwart!" It called out.

Malfoy gleefully pointed to me as McGonagall pursed her lips together.

"No." I put my hands to my face as the dwarf came up to me.

 _"Happy birthday to you!_

 _Happy birthday to you!_

 _Happy birthday dear Cassie!_

 _Happy birthday to you!"_

The dwarf sang terribly.

I gave him a nod with an embarrassed smile as he left the classroom.

"Sorry." I said loud enough for everyone to hear.

McGonagall's lips got tighter and she resumed the lesson.

Then the door opened and another dwarf came in, but this time it was for someone else.

Over the course of the day, we had heard more singing dwarves than we had actual lessons. In our second class, History of Magic, George had sent another dwarf.

 _"Her eyes are deep like storms._

 _Her hair as pink as raspberries."_

"That's it?" I asked the dwarf.

"Yes'm." He nodded.

"Could you find George Weasley and tell him,

 _His hair is as red as Weasley._

 _His songs as lame as a Weasley._

 _Weasley, Weasley, Weasley."_

"Yes'm." The dwarf nodded and left the room.

"Really?" Ron asked as Binns kept droning on, ignoring the rest of the dwarves.

"Can you do better?" I asked, sighing as I laid my head down and tried to sleep.

On our way to Charms, I had a grin on my face as Harry's name was called.

"I've got a musical message to deliver to 'Arry Potter in person." The dwarf was twanging his harp in a threatening way.

 _"Not here!"_ Harry hissed.

"Harry, just let it happen." I teased as I tried to help Harry into a private area.

The dwarf had cornered him in a hallway where it seemed the entire school was in. The first years were heading to their next class and I saw Ginny had seen us and her eyes were wide.

"Stay _still!_ " The dwarf had grabbed hold of Harry's bag and was pulling Harry towards him.

"Let me go!" Harry had snarled and his bag ripped.

Everything fell to the floor. I scrambled to pick up what I could that wasn't covered in red ink. His ink bottle had broken and anything near it had been drenched in it.

"Run!" I said to Harry, motioning for him to go as Malfoy and Percy suddenly joined the corridor.

He tried to, but the dwarf had tackled Harry's knees and sent him crashing to the floor.

"Right." The dwarf sounded smug. "Here is your singing valentine:

 _His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,_

 _His hair is as dark as a blackboard._

 _I wish he was mine, he's really divine,_

 _The hero who conquered the Dark Lord.'"_

I was trying best to cover my giggles, but it was a better poem than what we've heard from everyone else.

"Off you go, off you go, the bell rang five minutes ago, off to class now." Percy was trying to shoo the younger students to their class.

"Malfoy." I said, pointing to him.

Harry turned around and his face paled when he saw that Malfoy had Riddle's diary.

"Give that back." Harry said quietly.

"Wonder what Potter's written in this?" Malfoy asked, clearly not looking at the name on the book.

The crowd had hushed and I took a moment to look at Ginny. Her face was pale and her eyes were wide as she looked between the diary and Harry. Her eyes flickered over to me for a second and I knew.

 _The diary and Ginny were connected **but I didn't know how!**_

"Hand it over, Malfoy." Percy said sternly.

When I've had a look." Malfoy waved the diary in a taunting manor to Harry.

Percy was in the middle of a sentence when Harry took matters into his own hands.

 _"Expelliarmus!"_

The book flew out of Malfoy's hands and Ron had caught it.

I was still staring at Ginny who was growning paler by the second as she and I locked eyes.

"Harry!" Percy said loudly. "No magic in the corridors. I'll have to report this, you know!"

"Ginny had finally looked away from me, Ron had broken my gaze on her as he started to drag me along after him and Harry as we hurried into the Charms classroom.

"I don't think Potter liked your valentine much!" Malfoy snarled to Ginny as she passed him.

I had to stop Ron from pulling his wand out.

"No! You can't have another slug episode." I hissed to him as Harry pushed Ron's hand back into his pocket.

During Charms class, Hermione was helping Neville with the charm we had just mastered together. I was staring at a blank piece of parchment.

Well, it wasn't completely blank. In top was scratched words.

 _'Dear Sirius,' , 'Dear Mr. Black,' , 'Dear Dad,' , 'Dear Sirius Black,'._

I couldn't decide how to write this letter. And I was having a hard time focusing on writing it. I just wanted to get to Ginny, but then another dwarf came in shouting my name.

"Cassie Zwart!" It shouted.

I raised my hand and it twang it's harp.

 _"It's your birthday,_

 _Happy Birthday,_

 _Happy Birthday."_

"Thank you." I smiled kindly to the dwarf as it left the room.

"Nothing for George?" Harry asked, turning around to face me.

"Not this time." I exhaled hard on through my nose with a smile.

Harry grinned back at me and turned back to the diary. Ron's wand had started to grow purple bubbles from the tip and he was trying to get that to stop. I turned back to the letter.

 _'Sirius Black,_

 _I have been struggling with how to write this letter to you. I didn't want to come right out and say who I am. You don't know me, and I don't know you. I only know what the Daily Prophet has told me, and it's not all good things…_

 _My mother is… Was Karen Zwart. She died when I was little. I never knew about you until last year, I was told you were my father._

 _One part of me hopes it's true, I would love to have a father. The other part of me hopes it isn't. I don't want to be related to someone who is the reason my best friends parents are dead._

 _I don't know how they're treating you there, in Azkaban._

 _I would like to come and meet you, if that is alright with you._

 _Your daughter,_

 _Cassiopeia Zwart'_

I stared at the parchment as I scribbled sentence after sentence. My mind kept wandering to Ginny. So I folded the parchment up and placed it in my bag and wrote another letter.

 _'Sirius Black,_

 _I have no intention of sending this one to you. I just need to write things down._

 _The Chamber of Secrets has opened. Ginny is somehow connected to it. Along with the diary now in Harry's possession.'_

I ripped that parchment up before I could write anymore.

"Everything alright?" Hermione had turned to me when she heard me ripping my paper.

I nodded at her as I laid my head on the desk.

"Cassie." Harry had poked my head.

"Yeah?" I picked up my head and looked at him.

"What's wrong?" He had put the diary away for the time being.

"I found out who my dad is." I said.

"What?!" Hermione, and Ron had turned to listen to our conversation.

"The problem is, he doesn't know I exist. And I'm trying to write a letter but I don't know how to word it." I sighed, hitting my head against the desk as I partially lied to my friends.

"Tell him the truth. You don't know what so say but you want to get to know him." Hermione had put a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, but if she does that he may want proof she's his." Ron said from next to Harry.

Harry didn't offer any advice as Hermione and Ron. He was looking at me when I finally looked back up again.

"If I could have a relationship with mine, I would." He said softly.

We stared at each other for a moment.

 _'You don't know what I know.'_ I thought sadly.

Instead, I nodded my head to him.

"Okay."

I pulled out a new parchment and I stared at it, unsure of how I was going to write this letter to my supposed father.

* * *

That night, as we were heading to the dormitory, Fred had pulled me aside.

"Cassie." He said as Harry, Ron, and Hermione went ahead.

"Fred." I smiled tiredly up at him.

"Are you okay?" He asked, looking confused.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just had a long day." I tried to laugh it off.

"You sure?" He asked, looking deep into my eyes.

"Yeah." I nodded again.

"Okay…" He squinted at me before reaching for my bag.

"What are you doing?" I asked, holding onto it for a second.

"George is going to be out here any second. He has a surprise for you." Fred explained gently.

"Oh." I blushed as I let Fred take my bag.

At that moment the portrait hole opened and George had walked through.

"Thank you Freddie, I'll take her from here." George was smiling kindly down at me.

"You're welcome Georgie, have fun Cassie." Fred winked at me as he entered the portrait hole.

I saw Harry had turned around and when he saw me, he gave me a thumbs up as Hermione took my bag from Fred.

"M'Lady." George had done a slight bow, holding his arm out and I noticed he did look as nervous as I was feeling.

"M'Lord." I curtsied before taking his arm.

"Where are we going?" I asked as he started to lead me down the stairs.

"Well, since it's close to dinner time, I thought we'd start with a private dinner then go for a walk." George said as he pulled a tapestry back to reveal a passageway.

"Aren't we walking right now?" I asked cheekily, relaxing little by little as I was with him.

"Yes, but the walk I have in mind involves a later time." George winked at me as he moved my hand from the crook of his elbow to his hand.

He laced our fingers together and I blushed. All of these feelings whirling around my stomach, I liked that he was the one causing them.

"If I'm pushing it too far, just let me know." George said from beside me.

"Okay." I nodded, stepping out of the passageway and into a corridor I didn't recognize at first.

"I'm taking you to the kitchens." He said as I looked around.

"The kitchens?" I asked, looking up at him as he lead me down some stairs.

"Yes. I hope you don't mind, I wanted our first date to be… _private._ " He said, looking down at me with a confident grin.

"That's actually really sweet of you." I grinned back at him as we walked up to a portrait of a bowl of fruit.

"I need both hands for a second." George pulled my hand up to his lips and gave it a little kiss before letting it go.

I had a small smile on my hand as he tickled the pear. I watched it curiously as the pear grew a door handle and George had to use both of his hands to pull on it. The entire portrait opened like a door and I gave a gasp at what I saw.

There were four identical tables to the ones in the Great Hall, and they all had wonderful smelling food on them.

"Mister Weasley!" A squeaky voice said from George knee as he helped me into the kitchen.

I looked down and there was a creature with huge blue eyes and giant ears grinning up at George.

"Hello Mindy!" George greeted the creature.

"Is this Miss Cassie?" The creature turned her blue eyes to me.

"I am." I nodded kindly to her.

"Oh good! Right this way Mister Weasley!" The creature clapped her hands together and lead us to a quiet part of the kitchen.

There was a small table set up with two tall candles and clean plates and glasses set up romantically.

"Thank you Mindy." George pulled out a chair for me.

"Thank you." I nodded to both of them as Mindy walked away.

"They're house-elves." George said quietly as he sat down across from me.

"Oh!" I nodded, looking around at the many stoves and house elves now making pudding for after the feast tonight.

"Here is your food!" Mindy had floated a few platters with meat, vegetables, and potatoes towards us.

"Thank you Mindy." I said, allowing the magical utensils to serve up my dinner for me.

With a snap of Mindy's fingers, the candles were lit and she was floating the food away from us.

"How did you like your singing valentine's today?" George asked slyly as he took a bite of his steak.

I rolled my eyes but smiled, "my favorite one would have to be the birthday song."

"Really?" He asked as we ate.

"Yeah, it was the first one and rather than be cheesy, you gave me a birthday song first." I shrugged.

"I will keep that in mind for next year." George nodded seriously.

The rest of the night, we shared stories. Mostly about the different pranks we've pulled. Since George grew up with magic, he had more variety of being able to change the prank in the middle of it happening. Whereas I had grown up with muggles and not knowing magic, so he was intrigued by the amount of effort I actually had to put in my pranks.

He enjoyed that my favorite one to pull was with a powdered sugar bag.

After we had our pudding, a small birthday cake with some ice cream, he was leading me out of the kitchens.

"Goodnight Mindy!" I waved to the house elf.

"Goodnight miss Cassie!" She waved back to me as the dishes started to clean themselves.

"Now for that walk." George laced his fingers through mine and lead me up a trillion stairs.

I was panting slightly by the time we reached the Astronomy Tower.

"Am I allowed to be up here?" I asked, knowing fully well I was not.

"Don't worry about it. Come here." George was standing next to a blanket that was here when we arrived.

I put my hand in his as he sat down first then pulled me down to sit in front of him. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest. I had to breathe deeply as I had suddenly gotten butterflies in my full stomach.

"Relax." George breathed into my ear.

"I'm trying." I whispered back, not realizing how stiff I was.

George chuckled in my ear as he nuzzled into my hair.

"I love the night sky." I said, trying to change the subject.

"Your name is a constellation, yes?" George asked.

"Yeah, I just don't know which one." I shrugged, my butterflies slowly going away.

"You can't see it, not at this time of year where we are." George explained.

We spent the night talking about the stars. I was yawning by the time he had finished telling me a story the Native Americans use to tell about Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

"We should get back." George stood up and held a hand out for me.

"Should we though?" I asked, taking his hand and pulling myself up.

George chuckled as he pulled out a parchment and gave it a tap, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The Marauder's Map revealed the Hogwarts castle and it's grounds. Most of the teachers were in their offices, but Filch was prowling along the main floor.

"Come on, we'll take the short way." George held the map in one hand, and held his other one for mine.

We held hands as we snuck through the castle together. With help from the map, we didn't run into Filch or any other person. The Fat Lady was not pleased when we arrived in front of her portrait. We were both grinning sheepishly as she swung open when George gave the password.

The common room was empty, the fire was still going in the fireplace.

"This is where we part ways." George said as we walked near the stairs.

"This is." I nodded, turning to face him.

"Happy birthday, again." He said, leaning down to kiss my forehead.

"Thank you." I grinned as I stood on my toes and kissed his cheek.

"I'll see you in the morning." George let go of my hand and gently pushed me to my stairs.

"Yeah, see you." I smiled tiredly at him as I started to walk up the stairs.

I waited until I heard his steps fade away before going back down and opening the first year dormitory.

"Ginny." I whispered into the darkness.

There was a shuffling and the redhead joined me at the door. I grabbed her hand and lead her down the stairs to the common room.

When we sat in front of the fire, she was crying.

"Ginny. Can you tell me-?" I didn't get to finish my question, Ginny was shaking her head and she couldn't seem to get the words out.

"Okay, okay." I patted her shoulder.

"I want to help you. I don't know how too." I said, waking up slightly.

"I don't know how you can." She whispered to me.

"Let's get the diary back from Harry and we can see from there." I said as her eyes dried up and we discussed how we were going to get it out of Harry's dormitory.

* * *

 **HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CASSIE!**

 **Happy Valentine's to you guys! My boyfriend and I are unable to celebrate it together today (even though it's my day off from work LOL). I shall be spending the rest of the day preparing next week's chapter, and future chapters while having a LOTR marathon. Hope the rest of you have a wonderful love filled day!**

 **afk94: I'm so glad you're enjoying this book! I hate when I'm reading something that it's progress and I finish it just after they updated it so I totally understand where you're coming from! And thank you! I will definitely try to keep this up!**


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The next morning, I was fighting to keep my hair pink. It kept wanting to go to white or red.

Harry had figured out how the diary worked. When you wrote in it, it would respond. The original owner, Tom Riddle, had someone managed to put a piece of himself into the diary. Tom Riddle had apparently shown Harry that _Hagrid_ was the one who opened the chamber before.

"Riddle _might_ have gotten the wrong person." Hermione said over breakfast.

"Or he _might_ have shown Harry an unrelated event to get Harry's trust." I said as casually as I could muster.

"How many monsters d'you think this place can hold?" Ron asked dully.

"We always knew Hagrid had been expelled," Harry said, sounding miserable as we looked over to Hagrid. "And the attacks must've stopped after Hagrid was kicked out. Otherwise Riddle wouldn't have gotten his award."

"Riddle _does_ sound like Percy - who asked him to squeal on Hagrid, anyway?" Ron tried a different tack.

"The monster had _killed_ someone, Ron." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"And Riddle was going to go back to some Muggle orphanage if they closed Hogwarts. I don't blame him for wanting to stay here…" Harry added.

"You met Hagrid down Knockturn Alley, didn't you, Harry?" I asked, not wanting to actually say it.

"He was buying a Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent." Harry said quickly.

"I think he's innocent." I said firmly.

"Do you think we should go and ask Hagrid?" Hermione asked.

"That'd be a cheerful visit," Ron took a turn rolling his eyes. " 'Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?' "

"I don't think we should ask him. However, _I don't think Hagrid opened the Chamber fifty years ago!_ " I hissed at my friends.

They all reluctantly agreed with me, however if there was another attack we were going to go ask Hagrid about it.

* * *

I couldn't find a good enough excuse to get Harry to leave the diary in his dormitory. He took that blasted thing with him everywhere and Ginny was starting to get frantic.

"If he keeps writing in it, he could be in danger!" She hissed to me one night as everyone slept.

"I know!" I hissed back, rubbing my eyes.

I haven't had a chance to spend more time with George since our date on my birthday, and my friends were still talking about the attacks. It had been fourth months since the one on Justin and Sir Nick, and I knew it was because Ginny had taken my advice about throwing the book away. However, Ginny still couldn't tell me how she and the book were connected to the attacks.

"When the time is right, I'm sure you can go in and get it back." I said, wrapping my arms around Ginny's shoulders and hugging her tight.

She returned the hug and sagged against me. We hadn't talked much, not since being in Hogwarts but I can tell that having someone who knew she was in trouble, helped Ginny a lot.

* * *

Over the Easter Holidays, we were given a list of subjects we could start taking next year.

I had already circled Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination. I was debating circling Ancient Runes or Muggle Studies. Muggle Studies was going to be at the same time as Divination, and Hermione was going to be taking all of the subjects. She had circled every single one of them.

"I wonder how you're going to manage?" I asked, looking at Hermione's paper.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll make it work." Hermione said as she grinned happily at her paper.

* * *

"We're busy every night. With Quidditch practice, and homework. If you can find the right moment to ransack his room. You can get the diary." I was whispering to Ginny.

It was two in the morning on Friday. Ginny and I still hadn't a chance to get the diary from Harry and I was hoping she would be able to get it tonight.

"Okay." She nodded, her eyes darkening.

"Don't worry. You won't have to face this alone anymore." I said, putting my hands on her shoulders.

"I know." Ginny nodded again, this time looking up at me.

* * *

George and Fred had managed to catch up to me and Harry after practice. We were talking about our odds of winning against Hufflepuff the next day when George had laced his fingers through mine.

"I haven't had a chance to see you." George muttered to me as Fred and Harry walked ahead of us.

"I'm sorry, I promise I'm not avoiding you." I said, stepping closer to him.

"I know. We've just been busy." George gently pushed me away and started to swing our hands theatrically.

"I know." I nodded.

"How about tomorrow after we win, we do homework in the common room?" George asked as we started up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower.

"You? Do homework?" I actually gasped before laughing.

His face split into a grin as he laughed as well.

"That actually hurt my soul." He put his other hand to his chest.

"That hurt mine to." I laughed as Fred held the portrait open for us.

"I'm going to go get some homework and bring it down." I said, turning to George.

"Okay." George nodded as I walked up the stairs.

"Cassie!" Ginny hissed at me.

"Ginny." I said quietly to her as she stepped out of her room.

"I got it!" Ginny showed me the diary.

"Oh! Oh good!" I actually gave a sigh of relief.

"Thank you!" She hugged me this time.

"Of course. Now, don't write in it until we can figure out what to do." I said as she pulled away.

"I won't." She shook her head.

I nodded to her as she walked back into her room and I walked up to mine. I grabbed my charms essay as Ariel meowed at me.

"Come on girl." I said to her.

She followed me down to the common room. Hermione was sitting at a table reading _'Ancient Runes Made Easy'._ Once I had gotten settled into my chair, Ariel jumped up in my lap and curled up purring.

Harry and Ron both came down the stairs looking grim.

"Our room was just ransacked. The diary is gone." Harry said grimly.

"Oh no!" Both Hermione and I gasped.

Thankfully, none of them noticed mine was faked.

"But - only a Gryffindor could have stolen - nobody else knows our password - " Hermione was actually looking aghast about the news.

"Exactly." Harry nodded.

"Could… Could the Heir of Slytherin be a Gryffindor?" I asked quietly.

None of my friends wanted to answer that.

We didn't get to finish our conversation because George and Fred pulled up chairs and sat with us as we all did our homework.

* * *

I woke up the next day with Ariel curled up against my legs. I blinked my eyes at the sunshine coming in through the window.

"Beautiful day to kick some Hufflepuff arse." I stretched out before putting on my school robes.

Since it was just Hufflepuff, I told Wood I didn't want to play if I didn't have too. He full heartedly agreed and so I was going to meet George and eat breakfast with him and cheer him on at the match.

Hermione and I walked down the stairs in the dormitory together. George was waiting in the common room with Fred.

"Good morning." I greeted George as he bent down and kissed my cheek.

"Good morning, Princess." George greeted.

"You ready for the match?" I asked as George and I laced fingers again and Fred walked on my other side.

"Absolutely! If we can get ahead -" Fred started.

"- just by sixty points, we'll have the house cup." George finished.

"I see Wood's speech has gotten stuck in your heads." I smiled at them.

"Hard not to get it stuck -" George winked.

"- when it's all he would say." Fred sighed, also winking down at me when I looked up at him.

"Fair enough." I laughed as we entered the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Perfect Quidditch conditions!" Wood greeted us enthusiastically. "Harry, buck up there, you need a decent breakfast." He was loading scramble eggs onto everyone's plates.

I sat next to Harry with our friends. George and Fred sat on my other side so that they could converse with the other team members.

"I still think you should report it." Hermione was whispering as Harry stared at the packed Gryffindor table.

"Then he would have to explain where he got it, and why he wants it back." I said as I stole a piece of bacon off of George's plate.

"I don't want to be the one to bring up Hagrid getting expelled fifty years ago." Harry added absentmindedly as he started to eat his food.

"How would we explain that one?" I asked, looking at Ron and Hermione.

They didn't answer me as we ate our breakfast in silence.

"Princess, Fred and I are going ahead to get our Quidditch robes. I'll see you at the pitch?" George said as he and his twin stood up.

"Of course. I need to cheer on my favorite Weasley." I grinned up at him.

"I need my favorite princess to cheer me on." Fred winked at me as George and I kissed each other's cheek.

"She was talking about me." George joked.

"I was talking about Ron." I said as they left.

They both looked back, putting offended hands to their chests with shocked mouths as I laughed.

"Shut up." Ron had blushed.

"Sorry, but Percy is definitely not my favorite Weasley." I said to him.

"Fair point." He said through a mouthful of eggs.

As we were headed up the marble staircase, I noticed that Ginny was not in the crowd.

 _'Oh no.'_ I thought, looking around with my eyes wide.

"The voice!" Harry suddenly cried, looking over his shoulder. "I just heard it again - didn't you?"

"No." I shook my head, looking around again.

"Harry - I think I've just understood something! I've got to go to the library!" Hermione was suddenly racing up the stairs.

" _What_ does she understand?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. I'm going after her, we'll be right down!" I patted Harry's shoulder and raced to the library after Hermione.

I knew that Hermione was going to be at the library. Since that's what she said she was going to be, but the urgency of not wanting her to be alone was strong.

"Hermione." I whispered as I entered the library.

Madam Pince glared over her spectacles at me as I entered the library.

"Miss Granger has gone into the Magical Beasts section." She pointed down the aisle of books.

"Thank you." I nodded to her.

I walked as quietly as I could through the Magical Beasts section of the library. We must have passed each other because when I turned a corner I ran into Malfoy.

"Oh!" I said is surprise, earning myself a "Shush!" From Madam Pince.

"Cassie." He said my name in surprise.

"Draco, have you seen Hermione?" I asked, looking around him.

"No. I haven't seen Granger." He sniffed.

"Oh, thank you." I nodded to him and started to walk away.

"Wait!" He grabbed my arm.

"Shush!" Madam Pince said from her desk.

"What is it?" I asked Malfoy.

Looking at him, he was paler than usual.

"Just, wait." He whispered to me.

I don't know how long we stood there.

"Draco, I have to find my friend." I said kindly, removing his hand from my arm.

"Take a mirror with you." Malfoy pulled out a plain pocket mirror from his robes.

"What for?" I asked, not wanting to take it.

"Just trust me. Look around corners with it first." He shoved it in my hand before stalking out of the library.

 _'That was odd.'_ I thought as I followed behind him.

I watched as he turned at one end of the hallway. Looking both ways I went the opposite direction of him. As I reached the corner I looked down at the mirror in my hand and shrugged.

 _'It won't hurt to try.'_ I thought as I opened it and poked my arm around the corner.

My stomach dropped at what I saw.

"HERMIONE!"

* * *

 **Yes. Yes I know. This chapter is short, but I just had to leave you guys with this cliffhanger. I'll be back next week with the next one! But just a heads up, we are nearly to The End of book two. So please be patient with any skips in time and whatnot since I'm trying to pace myself but sometimes it's really hard to pace the story and what events I want to happen you know? Anyways!**

 **Shout out to ArsenicAssassin for following the Story!**


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"HELP! HELP ME!" My voice was shrill as it echoed through the corridor.

I heard a door slam open and Madam Pince came down the corridor and around the corner.

I looked up with tears in my eyes.

"Please! Get help!" I sobbed.

Hermione and a Ravenclaw Prefect were laying side by side, a mirror laying near them. I had tried to put Hermione's head in my lap but her neck wouldn't move.

She was Petrified.

"Somebody help!" I shouted again when I realized Madam Pince wasn't there.

There was a sound of footsteps and Professor McGonagall came around the corner with Madam Promfrey and Madam Pince.

"Oh!" Both McGonagall and Promfrey had put their hands to their chest.

"Please." I sobbed.

"Oh Cassie." McGonagall got down next to me and put an arm around my shoulders.

"I was _right_ behind her." I sobbed into McGonagall's shoulder.

"Oh dear." Madam Promfey had conjured two stretchers and was floating the Ravenclaw girl up into one.

"You stumbled upon them." McGonagall picked me up and we followed Madam Promfrey to the Hospital Wing.

"Hermione went to the library to check something out. I didn't want her to go alone-" I took a breath. "But I was just _right behind her._ " I broke into fresh sobs as Madam Promfrey opened the Hospital Wing doors.

"Poppy, I need to get Albus, and the students-" McGonagall put me on a chair next to the bed Hermione was laying in.

I didn't see or hear their conversation. I was running my fingers through Hermione's hair.

I don't know how long I was there for, but Madam Promfrey had brought me a glass of water and a piece of chocolate when the door opened again.

 _"Hermione!"_ Ron gasped.

 _"Cassie!"_ Harry was quick to hug me when I stood up.

"I was right behind her. I didn't see it." I started to cry again, silently this time.

"Miss Zwart found them by the library." McGonagall said solemnly.

I nodded to the boys when they looked at me.

"I don't suppose any of you can explain this? It was on the floor next to them…" McGonagall held up a small circular mirror.

"I don't know." I shook my head.

"I see," McGonagall nodded, "I will escort you back to Gryffindor Tower. I need to address the students in any case."

Harry lead me away as Ron gave Hermione one last glance behind us.

"It's not your fault." Harry said, squeezing my shoulder.

I could only grimace to him as we walked up to the Gryffindor Tower. The Fat Lady opened up when she saw McGonagall.

The tower was full of my classmates. Whatever conversation they were having stopped when Ron helped me into the common room.

"Cassie." George took a step forward and Harry had walked me into his arms.

I couldn't cry anymore tears, but I held onto him tight as McGonagall spoke behind us.

"All students will return to their House common room by six o'clock in the evening. No student is to leave the dormitories after that time. You will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. No students is to use the bathroom unaccompanied by a teacher. All further Quidditch training and matches are to be postponed. There will be no more evening activities." McGonagall was reading the new list of rules from a piece of parchment she had pulled out of her robes.

"I was right behind her." I whispered quietly.

George's grip tightened slightly.

"I need hardly add that I have rarely been so distressed. It is likely that the school will be closed unless the culprit behind these attacks is caugh. I would urge anyone who thinks they might know anything about them to come forward." McGonagall's voice was hoarse.

I turned around in George's grip and watched her as she stumbled out of the portrait hole.

As soon as she was gone, the common room was full of the Gryffindors talking among themselves.

"That's two Gryffindor's down, not counting a Gryffindor ghost, one Ravenclaw, and one Hufflepuff," Lee was counting on his fingers. "Haven't _any_ of the teachers noticed that the Slytherins are all safe? Isn't it _obvious_ all this stuff's coming from Slytherin? The _Heir_ of Slytherin, the _monster_ of Slytherin - why don't they just chuck all the Slytherins out?" Lee cried out.

"They're just as scared as we are." I said.

"And how do you know?" George asked.

"Haven't you noticed how they travel in groups?" I fell against George as I tried to look for Ginny.

"Percy and Cassie must be in shock." George said quietly to Harry, who I noticed was still near us. "That Ravenclaw girl - Penelope Clearwater - she's a prefect. I don't think he thought the monster would dare attack a _prefect._ "

I tried to bury myself farther into George's chest. He must have noticed because he sat down against the wall and pulled me into his lap. I was leaning against him with my legs over his one and Fred had brought a pillow so that my neck wouldn't kink from the awkward angle it was at.

"Thank you." I said to him.

Fred sat down and crossed his arms.

Harry crouched down in front of me and put a hand on my shoulder, "Ron and I are going to the dormitory to talk for a bit."

"Okay." I nodded.

"She can stay with us tonight." Neville had suddenly appeared.

"What?" Harry asked, looking up at Neville.

"Tonight, Cassie can sleep in my bed. I'll sleep on the floor. That way she's not alone." Neville blushed.

"Thank you, Neville." I grinned an empty smile up at the boy.

"Y-you're welcome Cassie." He blushed and tripped over his feet walking away.

"Are you going to stay with them?" George murmured in my ear.

"I don't know." I answered, closing my eyes.

George smelt of a warm summer's day in a grassy field, and it was comforting.

"I imagine we're going to be eating dinner in the common room tonight." I heard Fred sit down behind me and next to his twin.

"I'm not hungry." My voice sounded hollow in my ears.

"Mrreow." Ariel had come down the stairs from my room and was trying to reach us.

"Ariel, kittykittykitty." I perked up and held a hand out for my Turkish Van.

She got past the many legs and bounced into my lap, rubbing her face against mine. George chuckled as Ariel comforted me with purrs and head bumps.

* * *

I found myself with Ariel in my arms as Percy conjured up a sixth bed in between Ron's and Harry's. Neville didn't have to give up his bed, and Percy was allowing this one rule to be broken at this time.

"Don't - don't be afraid - to - to - to…" Percy stuttered.

"I won't be." I put a hand on his arm.

He nodded gratefully and left the me in the boys dormitory.

"C'mon Cassie." Ron was gesturing for me to climb over through his side.

I put Ariel at the foot of the bed and walked over to Ron. He and I both grimaced at each other, both trying to comfort the other. I climbed over his bed and under the covers of my conjured one.

"Are you doing alright?" Harry whispered as he put his glasses on his bedside table.

"No. But I will be." I said, my eyelids drooping from how tired I was.

Ariel curled up under my right armpit. The charm on my left arm was fading and I was finally noticing it.

 _'I'll need to go to Snape soon.'_ I thought to myself as I fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up in the middle of the night. Harry's bed was empty and when I sat up, I just had time to see Ron disappear into thin air.

"Where are you two going?" I whispered.

"We're going to go see Hagrid, do you want to come with us?" Harry's voice whispered.

"No. And I don't think you should either." I sighed, petting Ariel's fur.

"We have to find out what happened." Harry whispered urgently.

"I know. Just - Just be careful." I laid back down and Ariel stretched her body out, purring as she slept.

"We will be." I felt a hand pat on my foot.

The door opened and I waited just a few minutes before climbing out of the bed and following them down the stairs. I waited until I heard the portrait door close and then went up the girls dormitory. Luckily for me, Ginny was waiting for me.

"What. Did. I. Say." I growled.

"I'm sorry." She said fearfully, watching as my hair turned red.

"Because of that Diary, Hermione is now Petrified. And she figured something out and now we'll never know." I was angry, and I was trying not to be angry at Ginny since I knew it wasn't her fault.

But I was struggling.

"I'm so sorry." Ginny looked away from me.

"Nothing can be helped now. We _have_ to figure something out." I sighed, pinching the bridge of nose and breathing deeply.

" _He_ wants to meet you, but not yet." Ginny said absentmindedly.

"Who?" I opened my eyes and looked at my redhead friend.

"Tom." She said, avoiding my gaze.

"Tom Riddle?!" I whispered, trying to keep my voice low.

Ginny nodded.

"Oh that book is cursed." I ran my fingers through my hair.

"Okay, I will meet him when the time is right. Whenever that is." I said after a few moments of silence.

"Cassie, I am really sorry." Ginny had grabbed my hand just as I was about to walk away.

"I know. Me too Gin'." I patted her hand.

* * *

The next couple of weeks were Hell.

We had to travel in groups, and we had a chaperone who guided each group of students to and from our classes. And Harry and Ron had told me the next morning what had happened at Hagrid's. Hagrid had been put in Azkaban, and Dumbledore was just _gone._ Mr. Malfoy had sacked Dumbledore, he had gotten the signature of every single governor on the school committee to temporarily remove Dumbledore from the Headmaster position since he wasn't stopping the attacks on the school.

Malfoy was strutting around like he was Head Boy. For two weeks he would give Snape compliments and suggest that Snape should become Headmaster.

"Now, now, Malfoy," Snape had a thin-lipped smile, "Professor Dumbledore has only been suspended by the governors. I daresay he'll be back with us soon enough."

"Yeah right." Malfoy was looking back at me as we sat in Potions. "I expect you'd have Father's vote sir, if you wanted to apply for the job - _I'll_ tell Father you're the best teacher here, sir-"

I rolled my eyes at him as Snape swept around the dungeon.

"I'm quite surprised the Mudbloods haven't all packed their bags by now," Malfoy continued on. "Bet you five Galleons the next one dies. Pity it wasn't Granger -"

The bell rang and I was grateful for it. I had swiped my hand against the back of his head. Ron had been held back by Harry and Dean and when Malfoy turned around with his mouth open to accuse whoever hit him, then he locked eyes with me.

"She is my best friend." I growled at him.

He closed his mouth and sneered at me before gather up his stuff.

"Hurry up, I've got to take you all to Herbology." Snape barked at the dungeon's door.

Harry pulled my hand to the crook of his elbow and Seamus was helping Dean keep Ron between them. Once we were out of the castle and away from the Slytherins he was let go. Neville, who was walking beside me, moved over so that Ron could grumble next to me.

When we entered the greenhouses I let go of Harry's arm and followed Neville to our table. Sprout was having us preen Abyssinian Shrivalfigs. Because we were now two members short, Neville and I had volunteered to work just the two of us. We made a pretty good team.

I kept a close eye when I saw Ernie Macmillan march his way over to Harry. I didn't hear what was said but I was surprised when they shook hands. Then Ernie made his way over to me.

"Zwart." He said curtly.

"Macmillan." I nodded to him, squinting my eyes suspiciously at him.

"I want to apologize for thinking it was Potter and you who were causing the attacks. I know neither of you would have attacked Granger." He said, holding his hand out to me.

"Thank you." I said, giving him a small smile as we shook hands.

He then walked away with a last curt nod.

"That was nice of him." I was surprised when I turned around and Neville was glaring at him.

"It was. We're not friends though." I rolled my eyes and started to preen the Shrivelfig.

At the end of class Harry, Ron, and I were walking as far back as we could without Sprout getting upset with how far we were from the group.

"Hagrid said to follow the spiders, and they're going to the Forbidden Forest." Harry said as I joined them.

Ron and I both shivered.

"We'll have to take the Invisibility Cloak again." Harry continued. "We can take Fang with us, he's used to going into the forest with Hagrid, he might be some help."

"Right." I nodded, not liking the plan.

"Er - aren't there - aren't there supposed to be werewolves in the forest?" Ron asked as we sat in our usual seats in the back.

"It's not the full moon tonight." I answered just as Lockhart entered the room.

He was the complete opposite of how everyone else was feeling. Lockhart had an even bigger smile on his face.

"Come now, why all these long faces?" Lockhart asked as he walked to the front of his classroom.

I rolled my eyes with Harry. Ron had snorted and shook his head.

"Don't you people realize," Lockhart started to speak slowly, "the danger has passed! The culprit has been taken away -"

"Says who?" Dean asked loudly.

"My dear young man, the Minister of Magic wouldn't have taken Hagrid if he hadn't been one hundred percent sure that he was guilty." I didn't like Lockhart's tone.

"Oh, yes he would." Ron said, louder than Dean so that Lockhart could hear him from the back.

"I flatter myself I know a _touch_ more about Hagrid's arrest than you do, Mr. Weasley." Lockhart had a satisfied tone in it.

I felt Harry shift in his seat as he kicked Ron under the table.

"You weren't there, remember?" I muttered to Ron.

They had told me what had happened when they came back. I wasn't pleased, but I couldn't focus on Hagrid when Ginny is the one in danger.

I was scribbling down notes as Lockhart read out passages from his book, _Gadding with Ghouls_ when Harry slid a note to me.

 _'Let's do it tonight.'_

I sighed and wrote, _'Fine. But I don't like this.'_

 _'Neither do I.'_ Harry scribbled back.

* * *

I was sitting by the fire with George and Fred. They were challenging Harry and Ron to a game of Exploding Snap, Ginny was sitting in Hermione's chair and I sat on the armrest. Ginny was leaning against me and I tried to feel like I was comforting her, but I didn't know if it worked. I noticed the Harry and Ron were purposefully losing each game, and I knew it was in hopes that the other Weasley's would go to bed soon.

It wasn't until Ginny yawned for the sixth time in a span of five minutes that I managed to send everyone up to bed. I gave Harry a hard look and he nodded as he and Ron also went up their stairs.

They were getting the invisibility cloak and I was just following the ruse.

"He wants to meet you tonight." Ginny said, hesitantly holding the diary when I walked by her dorm.

"I can't tonight." I said, not thinking.

"Why not?" Ginny asked, frightened.

"I - Uh -." I blanked.

I couldn't think of a lie.

"Sorry, I've just been wrapped up about Hermione. I'll take it and I'll write in it." I said softly, holding my hand out for the diary.

"I don't want-"

"Ginny. Either you give me the diary and I take it, or I don't meet him tonight." I said firmly.

She bit her lip as she looked between me and the diary.

"Okay." She said softly, handing me the book.

"Thank you. I promise you will get it back tomorrow." I patted the top of her head before pushing her hair out of her face.

"Okay." She said again, staring in forlorn at the book and then going into her dorm.

I sighed, and hurried up the stairs into my dorm. I changed into my pajama pants quickly and threw my school robes onto the book just in case Lavender or Parvarti decided to go snooping. I didn't think I had time to get my map out so I left it.

"Where have you been?" Ron hissed when I joined them in the common room.

"Sorry, Lavender and Parvarti were still awake." I answered as Harry threw the Invisibility cloak over us.

We walked silently through the corridors, there weren't a whole lot of teachers or ghosts on patrol this time. When we reached the entrance hall I slipped out from under the cloak, changing my self to be as dark as possible so that I could open the door for us. One of them gave my shirt a tug so I closed the door and Harry opened the Cloak for me so I slid under it as well.

"It's lucky that you're a metamorphmagus." Ron said as we strolled more confidently through the grounds.

"Yes it is." I nodded.

As we reached Hagrid's hut, I was sad to see there were no lights in the windows.

"'Course," Ron suddenly said.

I jumped at his loud voice.

"We might get to the forest and find there's nothing to follow. Those spiders might not've been going there at all. I know it looked like they were moving in that sort of general direct, but…" He sounded hopeful.

"If we don't see any spiders, we won't follow them." I promised Ron.

He nodded gratefully.

Fang started to bark in joy when he saw the three of us as we entered the hut.

"Hush Fang!" I crouched down and started to pat him, hoping he would stop barking.

"Here." Ron had grabbed a treacle fudge out of a tin and gave it to Fang.

Fang's mouth got glued together and we all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come on Fang, we're going for a walk." I patted my leg as Harry put his Cloak on the table.

Fang happily bounded out of the house and sniffed around the grass before finding a sycamore tree to lift his leg.

Harry and I both took our wands and muttered, _"Lumos!"_ and a small light appeared at the tip of our wands.

"Good thinking," Ron nodded. " I'd light mine too, but you know - it'd probably blow up or something…"

"That's okay Ron." I patted his shoulder as Harry pointed to the ground.

There was a trail of spiders scittering away from out lights.

"Okay," Ron sighed, resigned to the worst, "I'm ready. Let's go."

Harry lead the way, Fang was happy to scamper around us, Ron was avoiding the spiders as best as he could.

There was something about the air, the feeling of walking into danger, that caused us not to talk to each other. The Forest was alive and I vowed to myself that I would come in during the day and just enjoy the sounds of it. But today was not that day.

There was a rustling to our left as we went deeper into the forest. There was something white flashing through the leaves and bushes and Ron had noticed.

"What is that?" He asked, fear in his voice.

I heard her knicker. And a grin broke out on my face.

"Celeste!" I called out.

A silver unicorn poked her head out, she whinnied at me but kept her distance from the boys.

"Oh!" Harry had paused as I walked over to her.

"Hello Celeste!" I held a hand out.

She bowed her head and took a couple of steps towards me so that I could pet her.

"When we had detention last year, Cassie found this orphaned unicorn. I'm not sure how she got back out here." Harry explained to Ron.

"Her herd came back for her while we were in the hospital wing." I started to brush out Celeste's mane with my fingers. Her hair was soft and didn't need much grooming.

"Hagrid carried me out so that I could say good-bye to her. You've grown so much!" I dug my fingers into the side of her neck, under her mane.

Celeste knickered and pushed her head into my hands. I laughed and scratched harder.

"I've never seen one before." Ron said, staring delightfully at Celeste.

"This is my first live one." Harry nodded as well.

"We've got to go Celeste." I gave her one last scratch and patted her neck and joined the boys again.

She whinnied and hurried to be ahead of us. She paced the area where the spiders were heading into.

"Celeste!" I scolded, walking over to her and trying to calm her down.

"Boys go on ahead, I'll keep her calm." I said, gesturing to them to continue walking along.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked as they passed us.

"Yeah. She just doesn't want us going in farther." I said, following behind the boys this time.

Celeste pawed the ground and started to follow us, huffing along the way.

"Shush, we are on a quest to rescue our friend." I explained as Celeste bumped her head against my arm.

Her horn must have reached it's full length, and it was pointed with a spiral look to it. I made sure to avoid it.

"How is following the spiders going to help Hermione?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"Not Hermione." I shook my head, even though Ron couldn't see.

"Hagrid." Harry answered.

We walked in silence. Celeste knickered now and then and I patted her to keep her quiet. Harry was pausing every now and then so that he could make sure we were following the spiders in the same direction.

Celeste paused, so I paused with her. Her ears were pricked forward and suddenly Fang gave a bark that echoed through the trees. Celeste reared up and I made sure to avoid her glittering hooves. With a great neigh Celeste turned around and ran back the way she came.

"Well, if that doesn't tell us to turn around nothing will." I sighed.

I turned around and Ron was nodding in agreement.

"There's something out there." Harry whispered, "listen."

I tried to break in quietly through my nose and out of my mouth, but my heart was starting to beat hard and I could feel the blood rushing through my ears.

"Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no -" Ron started to say under his breath.

"Shut up! It'll hear you!" Harry looked around frantically.

"Hear _me?_ " Ron's voice had taken a shrill. "It's already heard Fang!"

"I got you." I held my wand up behind us, and I backed up against Ron who squeaked from the sudden contact.

We listened to the area and a strange rumbling came close to us, and then silence.

"What d'you think it's doing?" Harry asked.

"Probably waiting to pounce." Ron answered squeaky.

"D'you think it's gone?" Harry whispered.

"No." I whispered back.

I gave a shriek in surprise when we were suddenly cast in a bright light.

 _"Expelliarmus!"_ I shouted, and pointed my wand.

I missed the light but a tree root suddenly flew up in the air and landed some feet away from us.

"It's okay! It's okay!" Ron was quick to push my wand down. "Harry! It's our car!"

"What?" Harry and I both asked.

"Come on!" Ron pulled me after him towards the light.

We stumbled after Ron and emerged into a clearing. The lights finally dimmed and I saw it. The Ford Angelica car that Mr. Weasley had had in his possession earlier this year.

"Look at it! The forest turned it wild…" Ron walked around the car as it seemed to shake happily at seeing him.

"That's crazy." I breathed, grabbing Harry's arm and giving it a light squeeze.

Harry nodded in agreement as I started to look around the clearing.

"And we thought it was going to attack us!" Ron was still fawning over the car. "I had wondered where'd it gone!"

I blinked three times.

The first blink, Ron was by the car.

The second blink, Harry had stepped forward and opened his mouth.

Third blink, I was swept up in darkness.

I knew I hadn't suddenly gone blind because I could feel my eyelids opening and closing in shock. But something was carrying us and I couldn't bring myself to shout. I was so frightened.

Fang was with us though. He sounded like he was struggling against his monster. I hoped that Ron and Harry were alright.

I'm not sure how long we were carried, but my eyesight came back and I saw Harry, Ron, and Fang being carried… I gulped.

"You are giant spiders." I whispered.

I didn't get an answer and I could only hope that Ron and Harry were still alive as well.

* * *

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	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

I was dropped next to Harry and Fang. I opened my arms and Fang cowered into them, not even whimpering. I looked over and Ron had his mouth open in a silent scream and his eyes were popping out of his head. Harry seemed to be taking everything in. He looked over us and then turned his attention to the den.

"Aragog!" A voice clicked above us.

From the den, there was… a spider the size of a small elephant.

"I'm scared of them too." I said.

Harry sniggered and then coughed as the spider came out from his webs. All of his eyes were milky looking.

"What is it?" The giant spider clicked.

"Men." Said a voice above us.

"Is it Hagrid?" Aragog asked.

"Strangers." Another one answered.

"Kill them." Aragog said fretfully, "I was sleeping."

"We're friends of Hagrids!" Harry shouted.

"Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before." Aragog said slowly.

"He's in trouble." I answered, not wanting Harry to be the only one speaking.

"That's why we've come." Harry was sounding a lot calmer than I was feeling.

"In trouble?" The aged spider wasn't staring at us, but rather allowing his eyes to wander.

"But why has he sent you?"

"He couldn't come himself." I answered, wrapping my arms tighter around Fang as a spider stepped closer to us.

"They think, up at the school, that Hagrid's been setting a - a - something on the students. They've taken him to Azkaban." Harry finished for me.

There was a furious clicking from all around the clearing.

"But that was years ago." Aragog said fretfully. "Years and years ago, I remember it well. That's why they made him leave the school. They believed _I_ was the monster that dwells in what they call the Chamber of Secrets. They thought Hagrid had opened the Chamber and set me free." Aragog explained.

"And you … you didn't come from the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry stumbled over his words.

 _'Glad to know he's scared too.'_ I thought to myself.

"I?" Aragog was starting to sound furious.

"I was not born in the castle. I came from a distant land. A traveler gave me to Hagrid when I was an egg. Hagrid was only a boy, but he cared for me, hidden in a cupboard in the castle, feeding me scraps from the table. Hagrid is my good friend, and a good man. When I was discovered, and blamed for the death of a girl, he protected me. I have lived here in the forest ever since, where Hagrid still visits me. He even found me a wife, Mosag, and you see how our family has grown, all through Hagrid's goodness…"

The clicking and the skittering of the thousands of spiders around us was making me paler and paler.

"So you never - never attacked anyone?" Harry asked.

"Never," the old spider croaked. "It would have been my instinct, but out of respect for Hagrid, I never harmed a human. The body of the girl who was killed in a bathroom. I never saw any part of the castle but the cupboard in which I grew up. Our kind like the dark and the quiet…"

"But then…" I spoke up this time, thoughts trying to rush through my bloodless brain. "Do you know what _did_ kill that girl?"

"Whatever it is, it's back and attacking people again -" Harry finished for me.

The clicking and rustling around us got angrier.

"That thing that lives in the castle, is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others. Well I do remember how I pleaded with Hagrid to let me go, when I sensed the beast moving about the school." Aragog answered, slowly stepping back into his den.

"What is it?" Harry asked, urgency in his voice.

"We do not speak of it!" Aragog said fiercely. "We do not name it! I never even told Hagrid that name of the dreaded creature, though he asked me, many times."

I grabbed Harry's arm and we slowly stood up. He pulled Ron up and I kept a hold on Fang's collar as he shook next to me.

"We'll just go then." Harry said, looking around at the spiders.

"Go?" Aragog answered slowly, "I think not…"

"This is not good." I whispered, pulling my wand out of my pants and holding it with my non-dominant hand.

"But - but -" Harry stuttered.

"My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid, on my command. But I cannot deny them fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our midst. Good-bye, friend of Hagrid." Aragog settled back into his den and closed his blind eyes.

"No. No. No. No. No." I shook my head, my white hair flicking around me.

Before I could mutter a spell, the car came thundering down the slope. Headlights were bright and it was blaring the horn.

"Good Angelica!" I cried out as it circled around us and opened its door.

"Get Fang!" Harry yelled and dove into the front seat.

Ron helped me throw Fang into the car and I was shoved in after him. Ron threw himself into the driver's seat. The car drove us out of danger and to the edge of the forest. Fang stepped all over the backseat in his anxiety to get out of the car so I was the first one out. Fang ran to Hagrid's hut with his tail in between his legs.

Harry got out second and Ron followed, his neck stiff and his mouth still open. But his eyes weren't popping anymore. My arm gave a burst of pain and it was on fire again. I took a breath through gritted teeth and laced my other arm through Ron's as Harry patted the car.

The car then reversed it's way back into the forest. The three of us walked back to Hagrid's hut. I left Ron outside by the door and Harry picked up his cloak. I patted Fang on the head and tried to get him out of his bed, but he wouldn't budge.

"Okay, you can stay here." I gave the boarhound a hug and a scratch behind his ears.

When I joined the boys, Ron was having a fit.

"He always thinks monsters aren't as bad as they're made out, and look where it's got him! A cell in Azkaban!" He was starting to shiver.

"What was the point in sending us in there? What have we found out, I'd like to know?"

"That Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets." I said as Harry threw the cloak around us.

The cloak started to get warm as my arm started to heat the small area around us.

 _"Frigus Dracarys."_ I pointed my wand to my arm.

The cool light came out of my wand and enveloped my arm. I gave a noticeable sigh of relief.

"He was innocent." Harry said absentmindedly.

I patted his hand in hopes of comforting him, even though I was enjoying being right. We walked the whole back to the our common room in silence. Harry removed the cloak off of us and gripped my shoulder.

"Are you alright?" He asked me as Ron headed up the stairs.

"I will be. I'm worried about Ron." I nodded towards the stairs.

Harry nodded and let go.

"Are you?" I grabbed his arm before he could walk away.

"I will be." He gave me a closed lip smile.

I pulled him into a hug, and he was quick to wrap his arms around me in return.

"Go to bed." I said softly into his shoulder.

"You too." He pushed me away.

I watched him as he walked up his dormitory. I sighed and began the walk back up to my room. I fell onto the bed and my hip hit something hard.

"This damned book." I growled, fishing it from underneath me.

Ariel hissed at it.

"I agree." I said softly, sitting up and pulling out my ink bottle and quill.

 _'Tom Riddle, I am Cassie Zwart.'_ I scribbled onto a random page I opened up to.

 _'Hello Cassie. Ginny has told me a great deal about you.'_

 _'She hasn't been able to tell me a lot about you, Harry Potter told me you had shown him the "Heir of Slytherin". Joke's on you, we KNOW Hagrid is innocent!'_ I almost ripped the paper with the tip of my quill from the anger I had.

 _'My, my, my. Did his Creature tell you that?'_

 _'Yes.'_

 _I see. Then I guess, if you do anything that reveals me. **I will hurt Ginny Weasley.** ' _My heart stopped.

 _'What do you want from me?'_

 _'Come visit me in the book. Listen to my end of the story, and I will not harm Ginny.'_

I paused for a moment.

 _'Will I be able to leave the book?'_

He didn't answer.

 _'If I come into the book. Will I be released if any harm comes to it?'_

 _'If any harms come to the Diary of Tom Marvolo Riddle, you, Cassie Zwart, shall be released.'_

I paused, chewing my lip.

 _'I agree to your terms Mr. Riddle.'_

 _'Excellent choice Miss Zwart.'_

There was a flash and I was thrown on my back. I gasped for breath and got my bearings. I was in a classroom, with a pedestal in the center with a book on it. Standing next to the book with a grin was a young man, with black hair and pale skin.

 _'If I didn't know better, I'd say he was handsome.'_ I sat up and glared at him.

"Cassie?" He asked.

"Tom?" I stood up and patted myself down.

"You are a feisty one." He grinned at me.

A chair was summoned for me to sit down at, so I did.

"I did not think this all the way through." I admitted as I sat down.

"Clearly not, but it was the right choice." Tom set down a quill into an ink bottle and sat across from me.

"I know." I crossed my arms and glared at him.

"Now now, you're going to be in here for a long time. Surely you can be polite?" His voice sounded like he was mocking me.

"When the time comes I will be." I sniffed.

The book on the pedestal started to glow and the pages flipped opened.

"Oh, Ginny is writing." Tom stood up and held his hand out to me.

I sneered as I took it and he lead me to the book.

On a page there was a scrawled message,

'Where is Cassie?'

"Would you like to do the honors?" Tom gestured to the quill.

He didn't get to finish his question, I had already picked up the quill and was quickly answering,

 _'I'm with Tom. Ginny, I'm okay.'_

I put the quill back in the ink bottle.

 _'Give her back!'_

I gestured to Tom.

 _'In due time, child, first you must do something for me.'_

"You're lying to her." My face was going to freeze into the sneer I had on my face.

"I am." Tom had a gloating smile on his face.

I noticed that he was looking transparent. He had a form here, but it was fading.

"What are you doing to Ginny?" I asked when he and Ginny had finished conversing.

The book on the pedestal shut.

"She is slowly fading so that I can be born again." Tom took a deep breath and he faded just a little bit more.

"Born… Again…?" I did not like the feeling I was suddenly getting in my stomach.

"My dear, have you not learned anything?" He asked, his grin showing perfect teeth.

"I'm only thirteen." I rolled my eyes.

"I am Lord Voldemort."

* * *

 **I would like to apologize for the short chapter! But since this is where I put my chapter line this is where I shall end.**

 **Shout out to afkz94 for reviewing!**

 **afkz94: I debated having Cassie out of this one, but I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to bring Celeste back (even if it was a short time). And with where Cassie is currently I figured I had better let Cassie, Harry, and Ron get some adventuring together.**

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	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Professor McGonagall, have you seen Cassie anywhere?" Harry asked his head of house.

It had been three days since they had traveled into the forest, _'following the spiders'_.

"I have not. I was going to ask you the same thing." McGonagall shook her head.

"We haven't seen her in three days." Harry shook his head.

"Professor - has there been another attack and no one's said anything?" Ron asked, looking around the corridor in hopes of finding their friend.

"No. Not that I am aware of." McGonagall shook her head once again as she dropped them off to their next class.

Every teacher was on a lookout for another attack, and no one could seem to find Cassie as they tried to keep an eye out for her.

* * *

The next day, in midmorning, Harry and Ron were given the best opportunity.

"Mark my words." Lockhart's hair was not perfectly curled. He had been up most of the night, patrolling the fourth floor. "The first words out of those poor Petrified people's mouths will be 'It was Hagrid.' Quite frankly, I'm astounded Professor McGonagall thinks all these security measures are necessary."

"I agree, sir." Harry said.

Ron dropped his books in surprise.

"Thank you Harry." Lockhart said graciously while they waited for several Hufflepuffs to pass. "I mean, we teachers have quite enough to be getting on with, without walking students to classes and standing guard all night…"

"That's right," Ron nodded in agreement. "Why don't you leave us here, sir, we've only got one more corridor to go-"

"You know, Weasley, I think I will." Lockhart nodded, beaming down at him. "I really should go and prepare my next class -" And Lockhart was gone.

"Prepare his class. Gone off to curl his hair, more like." Ron sneered.

He turned to his right and was disappointed that Cassie wasn't there to agree with him. Harry gave an understanding pat on Ron's shoulder as they let the rest of the Gryffindor's walk ahead of them so that they could sneak off to Myrtle's bathroom.

"Potter! Weasley! What are you doing?" Professor McGonagall snapped from the end of the corridor.

"We were - we were-" Ron stammered. "We were going to - to go and see -"

"Hermione." Harry finished.

"We haven't seen her for ages, Professor," Harry trodded on Ron's foot to shut his mouth. "And we thought we'd sneak into the hospital wing, you know, and tell her the Mandrakes are nearly ready, and er - no one has seen Cassie and we could use her help." Harry finished.

"Of course." McGonagall responded with a strange croaky voice. "Of course, I realize this has all been hardest on the friends of those who have been… I quite understand. Yes, Potter, of course you may visit Miss Granger. I will inform Professor Binns where you've gone. Tell Madam Promfrey I have given my permission."

Once they had turned the corner, Harry heard the distinctive sound of a nose being blown.

"Cassie," Ron said with a grimace, "would have been proud of that story you told McGonagall."

Harry nodded as they made their way to the hospital wing.

Madam Promfrey was reluctant to let them in, but she did when they said had McGonagall's permission.

"There's just no _point_ in talking to a Petrified person." Promfrey said.

"She's right." Ron murmured as they sat down next to Hermione.

Harry nodded as he stared down at Hermione.

"Do you think they can at least hear us?" Harry asked, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Dunno." Ron shrugged.

Harry replaced his glasses and stared hard at Hermione.

"Hermione, Cassie is missing. She hasn't been Petrified like you, but we could really use your help." Harry patted her hand and paused.

Her right hand was clenched and there was a piece of paper crumpled in it.

"Ron, Hermione's got something in her hand." Harry said to Ron.

"Try and get it out." Ron whispered, moving his chair over so that Madam Promfrey's view was blocked.

Harry struggled to get the paper out. Hermione's grip was tight on it that the paper almost ripped several times but after a few tense minutes Harry got it out.

 _"Finally."_ Ron breathed as Harry smoothed it out.

 _'Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of the Serpents._

 _This snake, which may reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad._

 _Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death._

 _Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.'_

In the corner, under the passage, in Hermione's cursive writing, _'Pipes'_.

"Ron! Ron this is it! This is the answer! The monster in the Chamber's a basilisk - a giant serpent! That's why I've been hearing that voice all over the place and nobody else has heard it. It's because I understand Parseltongue." Harry looked up at Ron and then looked around the room.

"The basilisk kills people by looking at them. But no one's died - because no one looked it straight in the eye. Colin saw it through his camera. The basilisk burned up all the film, but Colin just got Petrified. Justin… Justin must've seen the basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick! Nick just got the full blast of it, but he couldn't die again … and Hermione and that Ravenclaw prefect were found with a mirror next to them. Hermione had just realized the monster was a basilisk. I bet you anything she warned the first person she met to look around corners with a mirror first! And that girl pulled out her mirror - and -" Harry explained in excited realization.

"And Mrs. Norris?" Ron whispered, hanging onto Harry's every word.

"The water…" Harry answered slowly. "Cassie - when the diary was thrown away in Myrtle's bathroom, Cassie said something about water being there the night Mrs. Norris was attacked. Mrs. Norris only saw the reflection…" Harry and Ron met each other's gaze with wide eyes.

"It all makes sense Ron! _'The crowing of the rooster is fatal to it'!_ " Harry read aloud. "Hagrid's roosters were killed! The Heir of Slytherin didn't want one anywhere near the castle once the Chamber was opened! _'Spiders flee before it!'_ It all fits!" Harry lightly shook the paper.

"But how's the basilisk been getting around the place?" Ron asked, running his hands through his hand. "A giant snake… Someone would've seen…"

"Pipes." Harry pointed at the the scribbled word. "Pipes, Ron, it's been using the plumbing. I've been hearing that voice inside the walls…"

Ron immediately slapped Harry's arm and then grabbed it, "the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets! What if it's a bathroom? What if it's in-" Ron started.

" - Moaning Myrtle's bathroom." Harry finished.

They took a minute to bask in their moment of brilliance.

"This means," Harry leaned forward towards Ron. "I can't be the only Parselmouth in the school. The Heir of Slytherin's one, too. That's how he's been controlling the basilisk."

"What're we going to do?" Ron asked, his eyes flashing with determination. "Should we go straight to McGonagall?"

"Let's go to the staff room," Harry jumped up. "She'll be there in ten minutes. It's nearly break."

They ran through the corridors. Neither wanted to be found hanging around in another corridor. And rather than be caught outside, they just stepped into the staff room. It was a large paneled room full of dark, wooden chairs. Harry and Ron paced around the circular room, not able to sit down in their excitement.

It was short lived, however.

"All students are to return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately please." McGonagall's voice echoed through the corridors.

"Not another attack! Not now!" Harry spun on his heel to face Ron.

"What'll we do?" Ron asked, "go back to the dormitory?"

"No." Harry shook his head and looked around.

He spotted a wardrobe slightly opened, it had the teachers' cloaks in it.

"In here. Let's hear what it's all about. Then we can tell them what we've found out." Harry opened the wardrobe and gestured for Ron to step in. No sooner had Harry closed the wardrobe door so that they could watch and listen, the staff room door opened and the teachers entered the staff room.

McGonagall arrived just behind Snape and closed the door firmly behind her.

"It has happened." She said to the silent staff room. "Two students were taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself."

"Two?" Ron breathed.

Flitwick squealed while Sprout clapped her hands over her mouth.

Snape gripped the back of a chair and was paler than usual, "how can you be sure?"

"The Heir of Slytherin," McGonagall was extremely white and was speaking in a tight tone, "left another message. Right underneath the first one. _'Their skeletons will lie in the Chamber forever.' "_

Flitwick couldn't handle the sudden stress and burst into tears.

"Who are they?" Madam Hooch had sunk into a chair from the shock of the news.

"Ginny Weasley." McGonagall paused to take a breath. "And Cassie Zwart."

Snape broke the chair with his grip, Sprout had started to silently cry. McGonagall's throat sounded thick but she still spoke.

"We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow. This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said -" McGonagall was cut off.

The door to the staff room had opened with a bang, and Harry had hoped it would be Dumbledore coming through, but it was just Lockhart.

"So sorry - dozed off - what have I missed?" He beamed around the stricken room.

"Just the man." Snape stepped forward with a sneer. "The very man. Two girls have been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last."

Lockhart blanched.

"That's right, Gilderoy." Sprout chipped in, wiping the tears off her cheeks. "Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"

"I - well, I -" Lockhart sputtered, looking around the room.

"Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?" Flitwick piped up in his squeaky voice.

"D-did I? I don't recall -"

"I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn't had a crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested." Snape drawled. "Didn't you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given free rein from the first?"

"I - I really never - you may have misunderstood -" Lockhart stuttered, his eyes popping out of his head.

"We'll leave it to you then, Gilderoy." McGonagall's lips grew thinner. "Tonight will be an excellent time to do it. We'll make sure everyone's out of your way. You'll be able to tackle the monster all by yourself. A free rein at last."

Lockhart's usual toothy grin was replaced with a trembling one. The lack of smile showed a weak and feeble chin.

"V-very well." Lockhart nodded. "I'll - I'll be in my office, getting - getting ready." He left the room with a final nod.

"Right." McGonagall looked around the room, her nostrils flaring as she blinked to clear her wet eyes. "That's got _him_ out from under our feet. The Heads of Houses should go and inform their students what has happened. Tell them the Hogwarts express will take them home first thing tomorrow. Will the rest of you please make sure no students have been left outside their dormitories."

All the teachers stood up with nods and left the room, one by one.

Harry and Ron waited until the staff room was empty before leaving the wardrobe.

"Ginny…" Ron said in a thick voice.

"Cassie…" Harry nodded as they solemnly walked to their dormitory.

* * *

"So… You're a piece of the Real Tom's soul?" I asked, sitting on the ground with my legs cross as Tom and I talked.

"Yes. I'm a Horcrux." He nodded.

"What's a Horcrux?" I asked, stretching my legs out in front of me and leaning forward to touch my toes.

Tom chuckled and shook his head, "we should talk about something else. We'll come to that subject another time."

"What else are we supposed to talk about?" I rolled my eyes before flopping on my back, "I'm only thirteen! I haven't even had my first kiss!"

"You - you haven't had your first kiss?" Tom asked shocked.

"Yeah. Does that surprise you?" I asked sarcastically.

"Yes. Surely there's a boy who you wanted to kiss?" Tom asked.

I sat up on my elbows to look at the semi-transparent Slytherin boy.

"There is. But we were waiting. He's going to be my First." I explained.

"Oh. Shame you won't be getting out of here anytime to experience it." Tom shrugged.

"Ugh." I threw my head back on the ground and covered my eyes with my arm.

My eyes prickled with tears.

 _'George.'_

* * *

George was in shock. His sister, and the girl he had a crush on, were in the Chamber of Secrets. Fred was also in shock, he kept putting a hand on George's arm and tried to find the words to comfort him, but nothing came out. George nodded each time it happened because he understood.

Fred had liked Cassie too. Not in the same was a George, but enough that George wished he could offer the same comfort Fred was trying to offer him. But neither of them seem to find the words.

Together, they both stood up. George reached a hand out and ruffled Ron's hair slightly. Ron nodded in appreciation as the twins went up to bed. Unable to take anymore of the quiet common room.

"She knew something, Harry." Ron said, speaking for the first time since the wardrobe. "That's why she was taken. Ginny. It wasn't about some stupid thing about Percy at all. She'd found something out about the Chamber of Secrets. That must be why she was -" Ron rubbed his eyes frantically. "I mean, she was a pure-blood. There can't be any other reason."

Harry stared out the window, watching the sunset as his blood continued to run coldly through his body.

"Harry." Ron tried to get Harry to respond to him. "D'you think there's any chance at all she's not - you know -"

"Cassie has been down there longer. She's been gone for three days. I don't think-" Harry cut himself off before throwing a punch at the wall.

Whatever students left in the common room jumped at the sudden movement and sound, but they left Harry alone. As it was his best friend, and other best friend's sister, in the Chamber.

"D'you know what?" Ron perked up. "I think we should go and see Lockhart. Tell him what we know. He's going to try and get into the Chamber. We can tell where we think it is and tell him it's a basilisk."

Harry couldn't think of a reason not to go, so he nodded. Ron and Harry both walked out of the common room and no one thought twice about it. Everyone was miserable and feeling sorry for the Weasley's and for Harry.

Harry paused and listened just outside Lockhart's office. There was a lot of activity going on inside of the office. Harry knocked and suddenly there was silence. The door opened a tiniest crack and Lockhart peeped out.

"Oh - Mr. Potter - Mr. Weasley -" He opened the door to show just a little bit of his face. "I'm rather busy at the moment - if you would be quick -"

"Professor, we've got some information for you," Harry said, stepping into the office. "We think it'll help you."

"Er - well - it's not terribly -" Lockhart looked uncomfortable. "I mean - well - all right -" Lockhart opened the door for them to enter.

His office was in the middle of being stripped. Two large trunks were open on the floor, robes had been hastily folded into one of them; books were jumbled untidily into the other. The photographs that had covered the walls were now shoved into boxes on the desk.

"Are you going somewhere?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Er, well, yes." Lockhart ripped a life-size poster of himself off the back of the door and started to roll it up. "Urgent call - unavoidable - got to go -"

"What about my sister?" Ron asked jerkily.

"And our friend, Cassie." Harry added.

"Well, as to that - most unfortunate -" Lockhart avoided both their gazes as he shoved the poster into a box and started to empty out drawers. "No one regrets more than I -"

"You're the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!" Harry exclaimed. "You can't go now! Not with all the Dark stuff going on!"

"Well - I must say - when I took the job -" Lockhart muttered sheepishly. "- nothing in the job description - didn't expect -"

 _" 'He's a fraud, we just don't have any proof.' "_ Cassie's voice echoed in Harry's head.

"You mean you're running away?" Harry asked in disbelief. "After all that stuff you did in your books -"

"Books can be misleading." Lockhart said in a delicate tone.

"You wrote them!" Harry shouted.

"My dear boy," Lockhart straightened up and frowned down at Harry. "Do use your common sense. My books wouldn't have sold half as well if people didn't think I'd done all those things. No one wants to read about some ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a village from werewolves. He'd look dreadful on the front cover. No dress sense at all. And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee had a harelip. I mean, come on-"

"So you've just been taking credit for what a load of other people have down?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Harry, Harry." Lockhart shook his head impatiently, "it's not nearly as simple as that. There was work involved. I had to track these people down. Ask them exactly how they managed to do what they did. Then I had to put a Memory Charm on them so they wouldn't remember doing it. If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's my Memory Charm. No, it's been a lot of work, Harry. It's not all book signings and publicity photos, you know. You want fame, you have to be prepared for a long hard slog." Lockhart shut the lids of his trunks with a wave his wand.

 _'He's a fraud. He's a fraud. A fraud. Fraud FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD!'_ Cassie's voice screamed in Harry's head.

"You're a fraud." Harry snarled.

"Let's see." Lockhart gave another quick glance around the room. "I think that's everything. Yes. Only one thing left."

Lockhart pulled out his wand and sighed, "awfully sorry, boys, but I'll have to put a Memory Charm on you now. Can't have you blabbing my secrets all over the place, I'd never sell another book -"

Just as he turned around, Harry already had his wand out.

 _"Expelliarmus!"_

Lockhart was blasted backwards against his trunk, his wand flew into the air. Ron caught it and threw it out the window. Lockhart looked up at Harry sheepishly.

"Shouldn't have let Professor Snape taught us that one." Harry snarled.

"What d'you want me to do?" Lockhart asked weakly. "I don't know where the Chamber of Secrets is. There's nothing I can do."

"You're in luck," Harry gestured for Lockhart to stand up. "We think we know where it is. And what's inside it. Let's go."

Ron and Harry marched Lockhart in front them. They went down the nearest set of stairs and walked along the wall where the newest message shone. Harry clenched his jaw as Ron gestured for Lockhart to entered first. He was pleased to see Lockhart was shaking.

Moaning Myrtle was sitting on the tank end of her toilet.

"What do you want this time?" She asked when she saw Harry.

"To ask you how you died." Harry answered at once.

Myrtle lit up.

"Oooh, it was dreadful. It happened right in here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. I'd hidden in here because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet and then -" Myrtle swelled up in excitement. _"I died."_

"How?" Harry asked, blocking the door as Lockhart looked around to try and escape.

"No idea." Myrtle shrugged. "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up and then I was floating away…" She looked dreamily at Harry. "And then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."

"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" Harry asked.

"Somewhere there." Myrtle waved her hand over to the sink.

Harry and Ron hurried over to it, Lockhart stood well back. His face was going to be stuck looking in terror.

The ordinary sink didn't offer anything for the boys for a few minutes. But then Harry saw it, on the side of one of the copper taps was a tiny snake engraved into it.

"That tap's never worked." Myrtle said brightly as Harry turned it and nothing came out.

"Harry," Ron pulled back and pointed his wand at Lockhart who was side stepping to the door. "Say something. Something in Parseltongue."

"But-" Harry thought hard.

The only times he managed to speak Parseltongue were when he was talking to actual snakes.

"Open up." He said.

Ron shook his head when Harry looked at him, "that was English."

Harry nodded and looked back at the snake. He took a deep breath and willed the snake to be alive and opened his mouth,

 _"Open up."_

He could hear the words in his mind, but what he actually heard was a strange hissing sound coming from his mouth. The tap glowed white and it started to turn before the sink started to, well, sink down and reveal a large pipe. Ron gave a gasp and Harry looked at him.

"I'm going down there." Harry said.

"Me too." Ron nodded.

They both had the faintest, slimmest, wildest hope that Ginny might still be alive. Along with Cassie.

"Well, you hardly seem to need me." Lockhart said, a shadow of his smile on his face. "I'll just -"

Lockhart went to put his hand on the bathroom door knob when Harry and Ron both pointed their wands at him.

"You can go first." Ron snarled.

"Boys -" Lockhart's face had gone white as Myrtle. "Boys, what good will it do?"

Harry jabbed him in the back with his wand.

"I really don't think-" Lockhart turned around to try and face them but Ron finally had enough.

Ron shoved him and Lockhart fell into the pipe. Harry didn't wait long before he got down and slid after Lockhart.

The pipe was a slimy slide. As Harry slid down, he passed different pipes going off in different directions and were smaller than the one they were in. Ron was thudding behind Harry. He kept running into the corners and would let out a swear here and there.

Just as Harry had started to worry about what was going to happen at the bottom of the pipe, it leveled out and he shot out of the end with a wet thud, landing on the damp floor of a dark tunnel. He stood up and was grateful he didn't have to bend over to in the pipe.

Lockhart was shaking his feet and robes off of the slime as best as he could. He was still as white as a ghost.

"We must be miles under the school." Harry's voice echoed through the tunnel.

"Under the lake, probably." Ron shrugged, squinting at the walls.

"Lumos." Harry lit up his want and held it out to reveal a tunnel leading away.

"C'mon." He said to Ron and Lockhart behind him.

As they walked through the tunnel, their shadows looked monstrous on the wall.

"Remember," Harry said quietly, "any sign of movement, close your eyes right away…"

He didn't see Ron nod, but he heard Lockhart gulp. They were used to listening to the sounds of their feet slapping against the stone tunnel that all of them jumped at the sudden _crunch_ under Ron's foot.

"It's a rat's skull." Ron said once he inspected it.

Harry nodded and continued on walking. He didn't want to think of Cassie's skeleton…

"Harry - there's something up there - " Ron said hoarsely, grabbing Harry's shoulder and pulling him out of his thoughts.

They froze, keeping as still as possible, Harry watched as saw an outline take shape. It was huge and curving around the tunnel. It wasn't moving.

"Maybe it's asleep?" Harry breathed, not wanting to be any louder than he had to be.

He turned around to see Lockhart had his hands pressed to his eyes. Ron's were wide and he was breathing through his mouth. Harry turned back to the thing and his heart was beating so fast it was hurting his chest.

Harry slowly lifted his wand and took tentative steps forward. The light of his wand revealed a poisonous green snake skin. It was lying curled and empty across the floor. The creature that had left it behind must have been twenty feet long, at least.

"Blimey." Ron said in a weak voice.

There was a sudden noise behind them. Harry turned around to see that Lockhart's knees had given away.

"Get up." Ron said sharply, pointing his wand at the teacher.

Lockhart got up to his feet - then lunged towards Ron, knocking them both to the ground. Harry stumbled up from the skin and when he pointed his wand to Lockhart he was to late. Lockhart stood up with Ron's wand in his hand. His gleaming smile was back on his face.

"The adventure ends here boys!" He said gleefully.. "I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the poor girls, and that you two _tragically_ lost your minds at the sight of their mangled bodies - say good-bye to your memories!"

He raised Ron's broken wand and shouted, _"Obliviate!"_

The wand exploded with the force of a small bomb. Harry flung his arms over his head and ran, slipping over the snakeskin and out of the way of the falling chunks of the ceiling. The next moment, it stopped shaking and Harry stood alone, facing the wall of broken rock.

"Ron!" Harry shouted. "Are you okay? Ron!"

"I'm here!" Ron's voice was muffled from being behind the rockfall. "I'm okay - this git's not, though - he got blasted by the wand - " There was a dull thud.

"What now?" Ron asked, sounding desperate. "We can't get through - it'll take ages…"

Harry looked around at the different shaped rocks and tried to think of how he could help. He didn't want to risk using magic to move the rocks, what if the tunnel caved in?

"Wait there." Harry said to Ron. "Wait with Lockhart. I'll go on… If I'm not back in an hour…"

There was a long pause between the two of them.

"I'll try and shift some of this rock." Ron was trying to keep his voice steady. "So you can - can get back through. And Harry - "

"See you in a bit." Harry tried to sound confident through his shaking voice.

Harry put his hand to a rock and waited a moment before turning around and setting off further into the tunnel.

Alone.

The tunnel turned several times and the noise of Ron shifting rocks began to fade away. Harry's nerve were tingling and he wanted the tunnel to end, yet he dreaded the thought of what he would find at the end of it. After another bend in the tunnel, Harry came to a solid wall in front of him. Two serpents were entwined together, their eyes glinted with emeralds.

 _"Open."_ Harry hissed.

The serpent's parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid into the wall on either side, and Harry, shaking from his head to his toes, stepped inside.

* * *

 **We're coming closer to the thrilling conclusion! I am so EXCITED for you guys to read it!**

 **Review from afkz94: I wanted to have Cassie know who her father was before her third year, because as we know Sirius breaks out of prison and yaddie yaddie ya. And even though she wanted to write a letter to Sirius, I didn't want her to send it for my own reasons that will be revealed. Plus she couldn't really focus on writing a letter with Harry listening to a strange voice and Ginny being possessed by a diary. So hence why it shall wait just a bit longer.**

 **Review from UnicornPhoenix: Hello darling! I was wondering where you had gone! And don't worry I'm actually really proud of well I've been staying on top of my updates! And I'm so glad you're loving this story! That makes me feel so good!**

 **Review from katie owl: Here it is! And I'm excited for the next one!**

 **Review from LazyPurpleOwl: I'm so glad to hear about the feedback! Thank you thank you thank you! I'm so glad that there are people out there who are reading it well after it is finished! And don't worry, there's still more to come!**

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	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

He had entered the Chamber. It was dimly lit, it wasn't fire light, but a greenish light. Looking up, he saw glass and seaweed above him.

 _'I must be under the lake.'_ He thought to himself as he walked along the clean stone path.

At the last pair of pillars he passed, there was a statue as high as the Chamber itself. Standing against the back wall was a wizard, his beard was as long as the robes chiseled into the wall. At the feet of the statue, was a body, face down, with a flaming-red hair.

 _"Ginny!"_ Harry muttered and sprinted to the Weasley girl.

"Ginny - don't be dead - please don't be dead -" He pleaded as he cast his wand aside and shook Ginny's shoulders.

He turned her around and noticed she was as white as marble, and her eyes were closed. Harry gave a quick look around and his stomach dropped when he didn't see another body.

"Ginny, please wake up." Harry muttered desperately.

He shook Ginny, her head lolling hopelessly from side to side.

"She won't wake." A soft voice said from the darkness.

Harry jumped and spun on his knees.

He saw tall black-haired boy leaning against the pillar closest to him. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Harry were looking at him through a misted window.

"Tom - _Tom Riddle_?" Harry asked.

Riddle nodded, not taking his eyes off of Harry.

"What d'you mean, she won't wake?" Harry asked desperately.

"She's not - she's not -?" Harry couldn't bring himself to say it.

"She's still alive." Riddle took a step towards Harry. "But only just."

Harry stared up at Tom. He had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago, yet here he was. A weird misty light about him, not a day older than sixteen.

"Are you a ghost?" Harry asked in uncertainty.

"A memory. Preserved in the diary for fifty years." Tom answered softly.

"Where is Cassie?" Harry asked, looking around once again.

"She is safe." Tom pointed to the diary.

"She is _in_ the diary?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Yes. She willingly put herself in there to protect Ginny. If only she knew…" Tom's smile didn't reach his eyes.

"You've got to help me... We've got to get Ginny out of here, and we'll figure out how to get Cassie out… There's a basilisk… I don't know where it is, but it could be along any moment… Please help me." Harry had gotten up and put the diary that was laying on the floor on Ginny and tried to pick up the unconscious girl.

Tom didn't move, he just watched Harry struggle.

Harry had managed to hoist Ginny half off the floor and bent to pick up his wand, but couldn't find it.

"Did you see -?" Harry looked up and saw Tom was playing with Harry's wand.

"Thanks." Harry stretched his hand out for his wand.

Tom smiled at Harry, not moving.

"Listen." Harry was starting to get frustrated. " _We've got to go!_ If the basilisk comes -"

"It won't come until it's called." Tom said calmly.

"What d'you mean?" Harry asked, lowering Ginny back to the floor. "Look, give me my wand, I might need it -"

Tom's smiled broadened.

"You won't be needing it." He said.

"What d'you mean, I won't be -?" Harry asked, not liking the feeling he was getting in his stomach.

"I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter. For the chance to see you. To speak to you." Tom said slyly.

"Look." Harry's patience was growing thinner. "I don't think you get it. We're in the _Chamber of Secrets._ We can talk later -"

"We're going to talk now." Tom said firmly, pocketing Harry's wand.

Harry stared hard at him before looking down at Ginny.

"How did Ginny get like this?" Harry asked slowly.

"Well, that's an interesting question." Tom answered in a pleasant tone. "And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked.

"The diary." Tom gestured to the little black book. " _My_ diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes - how her brothers _tease_ her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books, how she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would _ever_ like her…" Tom's eyes glittered.

"It's very _boring,_ having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year old. But I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply _loved_ me. _No one's ever understood me like you, Tom… I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in… It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket..._ " Tom sneered.

"Cassie knew I wasn't what I seemed. Ginny told me how Cassie would watch her, and she would have to be careful about how often she was seen with my diary since she didn't want Cassie to take it from her." Tom rolled his eyes.

"If I say so myself, Harry, I've always been able to charm the people I needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted… I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her deepest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of _my_ secrets, to start pouring a little of _my_ soul back into _her…_ " Tom started to slowly walk in a circle around Harry.

"But she got scared. Cassie Zwart saw she wasn't herself. So Cassie had to _meddle_ in our affairs." Tom snarled. "So when Ginny got the diary back, I put Cassie away so that she couldn't meddle anymore." Tom gestured to the diary.

"What d'you mean?" Harry's mouth had gone dry.

"Haven't you guess yet, Harry Potter?" Tom turned to Harry. "Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the Serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat."

"No." Harry shook his head in disbelief.

"Yes." Tom said with pleasure. "Cassie figured it out."

"What?" Harry looked down at the diary.

"Of course, Ginny didn't _know_ what she was doing at first. It was very amusing. I wish you could have seen her new diary entries… far more interesting, they became… _Dear Tom, I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and I don't know how they got there. Dear Tom, I can't remember what I did on the night of Halloween, but a cat was attacked and I've got paint all down my front. Dear Tom, Cassie is worried about me and wants me to tell her what's wrong, but I don't even know what is wrong! Dear Tom, Percy keeps telling me I'm pale and I'm not myself, I think he suspects me… There was another attack today and I don't know where I was. Tom what am I going to do? I think I'm going mad… I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom!_ " Tom recited, his voice getting louder with each sentence.

"It took a very long time for stupid little Ginny to stop trusting the diary. And with Cassie's help she tried to dispose of it, and that's where _you_ came in, Harry. You found it, and I couldn't have been more delighted! Of all the people who could have picked it up, it was _you_ , the very person I was most anxious to meet…"

"And why did you want to meet me?" Harry asked; he was starting to angry from what he was hearing.

"Well, you see, Ginny told me all about you, Harry. Your whole _fascinating_ history." Tom's eyes moved up to the lightning scar on Harry's forehead. "I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, meet you if I could. So I decided to show you my famous capture of that great oaf Hagrid, to gain your trust -"

"Hagrid's my friend!" Harry interrupted Tom, "and you framed him, didn't you? I thought you made a mistake, but -"

Tom threw back his head and his laugh was a high sounding one.

"It was my word against Hagrid's, Harry. Well, you can imagine _how_ it looked to old Armando Dippet. On the one hand, Tom Riddle, poor but brilliant, parent less but so _brave_ , school prefect, model student… on the other hand, big, blundering Hagrid, in trouble every other week, trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking off to the Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls… but I admit, even _I_ was surprised how well the plan worked. I thought _someone_ must realize that Hagrid couldn't possibly be the Heir of Slytherin. It had taken _me_ five whole years to find out everything I could about the Chamber of Secrets and discover the secret entrance… as though Hagrid had the brains, or the power!" Tom snarled.

"Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to thing Hagrid was innocent. He persuaded Dippet to keep Hagrid and train him as gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have guessed… Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did…"

"I bet Dumbledore saw right through you." Harry said through gritted teeth.

"Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled." Tom shrugged carelessly. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school. But I wasn't going to waste those long years I'd spent searching for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen year-old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

"Well, you haven't finished it." Harry said triumphantly. "No one's died this time, not even the cat. In a few hours the Mandrake Drought will be ready and everyone who was Petrified will be alright again -"

"Haven't I already told you," Tom said quietly, "that killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore? For many months now, my new target has been - _you._ "

Harry blinked at him.

"Imagine how angry I was when the next time my diary was opened, it was Ginny who was writing to me, not you. She saw you with the diary, you see, and panicked. What if you found out how to work it, and I repeated all her secrets to you? What if, even worse, I told you who'd been strangling roosters? So the foolish little brat waited until your dormitory was deserted and stole it back with the help the that meddlesome Cassie." Tom spat.

"But I knew what I must do. It was clear to me that you were on the trail of Slytherin's heir. From everything Ginny had told me about you, I knew you would go to any lengths to solve the mystery - particularly if one of your best friends was attacked. Though, the real target was Cassie. I was trying to get her out of the way, but when I heard it was the Granger girl who had been Petrified instead, I knew I had to try something different. And Ginny had also mentioned that the whole school was buzzing because you could speak Parseltongue…

"So I made Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down here to wait. The foolish girl had managed to let everyone else know that Cassie was down here as well, but sadly," Tom gestured around him. "No one will ever find Cassiopeia Zwart."

Harry clenched his fist and bowed his head to look at the diary.

 _'I will get you out of there.'_ He vowed.

"Ginny did struggle and cried, and became _very_ boring. But there wasn't much life left in her… She put too much into the diary, into me. Enough to let me leave pages at last… I have been waiting for you to appear since we arrived here. I knew you'd come. I have many question for you, Harry Potter." Tom finally stopped walking around Harry and Ginny in circles.

He stared at Harry with hungry eyes.

"Like what?" Harry spat out.

"Well," Tom smiled pleasantly. "How is it that _you_ \- a skinny boy with no extraordinary magical talent - managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How _did_ you managed to escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"

"Why do you care how I escaped?" Harry answered slowly. "Voldemort was after your time…"

"Voldemort," Tom said softly, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Is my past, present, and future, Harry Potter…"

Tom pulled out Harry's wand from his pocket and traced three words in the air, _'Tom Marvolo Riddle'._

Then with a wave of the wand , the letters floated to rearrange themselves to say, _'I am Lord Voldemort'._

"You see?" Tom whispered, excitement evident in his voice. "It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever?" Tom's voce began to rise and spt flew out of his mouth.

"I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Harry, - I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!" Tom shouted.

"You're not." Harry forced himself to speak.

"Not what?" Tom snapped.

"Not the greatest sorcerer in the world," Harry was starting to breath fast. "Sorry to disappoint you and all that, but the greatest wizard in the world is Albus Dumbledore. Everyone says so. Even when you were strong, you didn't dare try and take over at Hogwarts. Dumbledore saw through you when you were at school and he still frightens you now, where you're hiding these days -"

Tom's smile had been replaced by an ugly look.

"Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere _memory_ of me!" Tom hissed.

"He's not as gone as you might think!" Harry retorted.

Harry was buying time, trying to think fast as to how he was going to get out of this mess.

Tom opened his mouth to respond, but froze.

Somewhere in the darkness, a song was heard. Tom spun around, trying to find the source of it. Harry 's hair was lifting and his heart felt it was swelling up in size. It tingled his spine, and in a confident building way.

The music had reached a pitch that was vibrating Harry's ribs, when flames erupted at the top of the nearest pillar. A crimson bird the size of a swan had appeared, piping its song to the vaulted ceiling. It had a glittering golden tawy as long as a peacocks and golden talons that gleamed. In these talons, was a ragged bundle.

The bird flew straight to Harry, dropping the bundle at Harry's feet and landing on Harry's shoulder.

That's a phoenix…" Tom stared shrewdly at the bird.

 _"Fawkes?"_ Harry asked, and the golden bird dug its talons gently into Harry's shoulder.

"And _that_ -" Tom turned his eyes to the ragged thing that laid at Harry's feet. "That's the old school Sorting Hat -"

Tom started to laugh again.

Harry waited. He didn't know what Fawkes and the Sorting Hat could offer, but he didn't feel alone anymore.

"This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Harry Potter? Do you feel safe now?"

Harry didn't answer, but he could feel his courage building back up again.

"To business, Harry." Tom had smiled broadly again. "Twice - in _your_ past, in _my_ future - we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. _How did you survive?_ Tell me everything. The longer you talk, the longer you stay alive." Tom finished softly.

Harry started to think fast. Riddle had his wand. Harry had Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, neither of which would be much good in a duel. It looked bad… But the longer Riddle stood there, the more life was dwindling out of Ginny. Harry noticed suddenly, Riddle's outline was becoming clearer and more solid. If it had to be a fight between him and Tom, better soon than later.

 _'What would Cassie do?'_ Harry thought to himself, then opened his mouth.

"No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me." Came out of Harry's mouth. "I don't know myself. But I know why you couldn't _kill_ me. Because my mother died to save me. My common _Muggle-born_ mother." He added, starting to shake with rage.

"She stopped you killing me. And I've seen the real you, I saw you last year. You're a wreck. You're barely alive. That's where all your power got you. You're in hiding. You're ugly, you're foul -"

Tom's face contorted, but he forced an awful smile.

"So. Your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful counter-charm. I can see now… there is nothing special about you, after all, I wondered, you see. There are strange likenesses between us, after all. Ever you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even _look_ something alike… but after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from that. That's all I wanted to know."

Tom walked away from Harry. Harry tensed up, waiting for Tom to point the wand at him, but when Tom turned around he just smiled.

"Now, Harry, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Slytherin, against famous Harry Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him…"

Tom turned away and took another step towards the statue.

Tom was hissing at the statue, but Harry understood what he was saying.

 _"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."_

Harry looked up and took a step back, his eyes growing and his heart beating in fear. The mouth of the statue was opening wider and wider, to make a large black hole. Something was stirring inside the mouth.

Harry backed away until he hit the dark Chamber wall. As he shut his eyes tight, Fawkes' wing swept his cheek and the phoenix took flight.

 _"Kill him."_ Tom hissed to the basilisk.

Harry kept his eyes shut and held his hands out. He ran blindly and Tom laughed. It echoed through the camber.

He didn't know where he was going, and since he was running blindly through a chamber full of pillars and serpent statues, he tripped. When he landed he hit his chin against the stone floor. Blood flooded Harry's mouth and he spat it out.

As he was struggling to stand up, there was a spitting sound above him. Harry clenched his eyes harder as he waited. He was suddenly hit, he crashed against the wall and spat out another mouth full of blood.

As he came back, he could hear the basilisk hissing and thrashing against the pillars. Fawkes wings were flapping and he could hear the wind through the feathers. Harry knew he shouldn't, but he opened his eyes to see what was happening.

The serpent was enormous! Bright and as green as the skin it had shed, it had raised itself high in the air and waving its head against the pillars. Harry was trembling as he watched, ready to shut his eyes just in case. Fawkes was distracting the basilisk.

The basilisk would snap at the phoenix, but Fawkes would dodge just in time. Harry's eyes widen when Fawkes dove and extended his talons out. A shower of blood hit the floor, and the snake's tail thrashed in pain. Harry dodged out of the wall of it and when Harry looked up his heart dropped in his chest.

The Basilisk was staring straight at him. But only… it's bulbous yellow eyes had been punctured by Fawkes. It couldn't kill Harry.

 _"NO!"_ Tom screamed. _"LEAVE THE BIRD! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU! YOU CAN STILL SMELL HIM! KILL HIM!"_

The basilisk swayed it's head. It was confused, but still deadly. Fawkes was diving at it and digging his talons into whatever scales he could reach.

"Help me, help me, help me." Harry repeated, backing up against the wall and hoping. "Someone - anyone -"

The snake's tail whipped across the floor, and Harry ducked to avoid it hitting him. Something soft hit his face instead. Harry held the Sorting Hat in his hands. Not knowing what else to do, he pulled it onto his head and threw himself onto the ground to avoid the tail from swiping him again.

 _'Help me - help me - help me - please - help me.'_ Harry begged the hat.

The Hat didn't answer. Instead, it felt like the hat was being squeezed by an invisible hand. Something hard fell on Harry's head and the pain almost made him pass out. With his eyes blinking to keep the darkness away, Harry pulled the hat off of his head and looked inside.

A sword was inside the hat. It had rubies the size of chicken eggs embedded in the handle.

 _"KILL THE BOY! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU! SNIFF - SMELL HIM!"_ Tom was still yelling in Parseltongue at the basilisk.

Harry was on his feet. One hand holding the hat, and the other holding the handle of the sword. The basilisk head was still thrashing away, but it's body coiled and turned around to face Harry. It's mouth was opening, it's tongue flicking out to smell him in the air. Then it opened its mouth, showing fangs lined up all along its jaw. It lunged blindly at Harry, but Harry dodged and it hit the wall.

The basilisk shook its head from the shock and when it regained its bearings it gave another sniff and lunged at Harry again. Harry raised the sword with both hands and when the basilisk lunged at him, he threw his entire weight behind the sword.

The sword was driven up to its hilt in the serpent's mouth. Harry cried out from the pain as one poisonous fang sunk deeper and deeper into his arm. The basilisk keeled over, splintering the fang from its mouth and leaving it in Harry's arm.

Harry slid down the wall.

 _'Cassie.'_ He thought as he wrenched the fang from his body.

His vision started to blur and he dropped the fang weakly. The Chamber around him was dissolving into a dull color. There was a streak of scarlet and a soft clatter of claws landed next to Harry.

"Fawkes," Harry said thickly. "You were fantastic Fawkes…"

Harry felt the phoenix lay his head on his arm.

"You're dead, Harry Potter." Tom walked over to Harry and cast a shadow on him. "Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Potter? He's crying."

"I'm going to sit here and watch you die, Harry Potter. Take your time I'm in no hurry."

Harry felt drowsy and he tried to keep his eyes opened.

"So ends the famous Harry Potter. Alone in the Chamber of Secrets, forsaken by his friends, defeated at last by the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged. You;ll be back with your dear Mudblood mother soon, Harry… She bought you twelves years of borrowed time...but Lord Voldemort got you in the end, as you knew he must…" Tom droned on above Harry.

 _'If this is dying, it's not so bad.'_ Harry thought to himself as warmth spread through his body.

He was no longer in pain and started to notice, the Chamber wasn't going black. It was coming back into focus.

"Get away, bird." Tom said suddenly. "Get away from him - I said, _get away_ -"

Harry turned his head and saw pearly tears shining all around the wound - except there wasn't a wound anymore.

 _'Phoenixes have healing powers.'_ Cassie's voice echoed in Harry's head.

Harry sat up and Tom was pointing Harry's wand at Fawkes. There was a bang and Fawkes was gone in a blur of scarlet and gold feathers.

"Phoenix tears…" Tom's face had an ugly look to it when he stared at Harry's arm. "Of course…healing powers...I forgot…"

Tom turned his face look at Harry's.

"But it makes no difference. In fact, I prefer it this way. Just you and me, Harry Potter… you and me…" Tom raised the wand.

In a rush of wings. Fawkes had soared back overhead and something was dropped into Harry's lap - _the diary._

It was opened up and in Cassie's handwriting were two words.

 _'Do it.'_

Harry seized the basilisk fang that was laying next to him. Closed the book. And stabbed the center of the cover, piercing it half of the way through.

 ** _"NO!"_ **Tom screamed.

There was a sudden flash from the diary and Cassie was thrown back near Ginny. She sat up and looked at Harry. Cassie's bright pink hair was sticking up from the sudden rush and she was clutching her right shoulder. Harry saw blood coming from a wound, her school uniform was ripped.

"Whatever you did, do it Harry!" She cried out, her grey eyes wide as Tom crumbled.

Harry nodded and shoved the fang all the way through the book.

Tom writhed and screamed and was suddenly gone. Harry and Cassie stared at each other for a bit. Not really believing the other was really there.

Cassie's face broke into a grin, "I will stick with you until the end."

Harry couldn't help the laugh that came out of his throat. Cassie laughed as well and allowed herself to fall backwards onto the cobblestone floor.

* * *

 **So, we are closer to the end than I thought... So I hope you enjoyed this super long chapter!**

 **Shout out to ethan . dewitt 35 for adding the first book to their story alert, and to following this story! So I know that's not how your username is actually spelt, but it wouldn't let me keep your names together so this was the best I could do.**

 **Shout out to Meggie Ray for following both Treasured Books, and favoriting them!**

 **Shout out to eccentricess for following the story!**

 **afk94: Because of Cassie's and George's relationship, I wanted to add his perspective into it. And here's your notification for the chapter!**

 **Rafaela Tord: Just a chapter or two more? I'm not entirely sure to be honest haha!**

 **katie owl: Just this one last chapter in just Harry's perspective, the next one will be a mix of Cassie's and Harry's mostly for the full story. And then in the third book it won't be often but that one will also have other perspectives in it.**


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"I have to go soon. My time is almost done here." Tom was pacing one side of the room.

I was laying on my side. I had come to terms that I was going to live forever in solitude… in a diary of a sixteen year old boy.

"Yeah. Okay." I said, not moving.

I had no idea how long I was in the diary for. I wasn't hungry and I wasn't tired. I was just… there.

"Are you not sad?" Tom turned to me.

I looked at the mirage. Tom had faded so much, his soul was leaving the diary and he had explained to me he was "eating" Ginny's soul. So it would soon just be my thoughts in the diary Tom would more than likely seal away in a vault. Tom didn't look like a ghost, but he was transparent enough to be one.

"No." I shrugged my shoulders.

"You will be here forever. By yourself." Tom cocked his head to the side.

"And I'm sure someone will find me, maybe in fifty years or so." I chuckled dryly.

Tom glared at me before pacing once again.

"Perfect!" Tom suddenly said.

I didn't move.

"Harry Potter has come to rescue Ginny."

I perked up. I picked my head up and looked at Tom.

He was looking at me with a watchful gaze.

"If he can rescue her, then you'll be stuck with me for company." I grinned at him and laid my head back down.

Tom snarled at me but started to pace once again. After a few moments he froze, and stood still. I stared at him and watched as his mouth started to move but no sound came out. I wasn't good at lip-reading so I just stayed still.

I allowed my eyes to tear up but I wouldn't let the tears fall. There was no reason to cry in this situation. I got myself into this mess without talking to Harry, or Ron, or even George.

I coughed at the thought of George. I so badly wished I had kissed him…

I was moving to a sitting position, wishing for a stack of cards or something to entertain myself with, when the diary flipped open. I stood up and walked over to it.

No one was writing in it. And I knew the only people who were aware of the diary were not in it with me. So I wrote on the page.

 _'Do it.'_

I'm not sure why I wrote it. But it felt like the right thing to write.

The diary flipped closed and I saw the silhouette of something sharp puncture the center of the cover

I let out a shriek of pain. The right side of my collar bone was stabbed by something invisible and I started bleeding. I was in serious pain. In a flash of bright light I was flown onto a stone floor. I sat up, looking through blurry eyes I saw Harry holding a dagger of sorts in the diary; Tom was writhing and appeared to be ripping from reality.

"Whatever you did, do it Harry!" I shouted as I sat up holding my shoulder, blood coming out of the wound.

Harry nodded and pushed the dagger through the diary completely. I let out another cry of pain as the hole in my shoulder grew larger and Tom burst out of our world in a strange glittery light.

Harry and I just stared at each other for a little. I couldn't believe I was out of the diary.

I felt the grin split between my lips and the words came out of my mouth.

"I will stick with you until the end."

Harry let out a laugh and shook his head.

He stood up and gave another shake of his head as he slowly picked up his wand and the Sorting Hat that was next to him.

 _'I missed the action again.'_ I sighed unhappily as I allowed myself to fall onto my back.

I lifted my head when there was movement next to me. Ginny opened her eyes and sat up.

"Oh good." I smiled faintly and let my head hit the ground and started to cry from the pain and the shock..

I heard Ginny start to explain herself to Harry. When I looked through my eyelids Harry was over my head and petting my hair. I grinned up at him and Fawkes landed next to me.

"His tears will heal you." Harry said, grabbing my hand and holding it as Fawkes laid his head against my wound.

"Ah!" I cried out.

Fawkes tears burned as I felt my collar bone putting itself together.

"Stop stop!" I cried quietly.

Fawkes chirped and stopped, rubbing his head against my chin as Harry and Ginny sat me up.

"You're a good boy." I put a hand on his head and gave it a scratch.

Harry gently helped me up from the ground. I tried to grit my teeth from the pain and Fawkes tried to let some more of his tears fall on my shoulder but I couldn't handle anything except for the pressure of my hand.

Ginny was wailing about how she was going to be expelled as Harry lead us through the Chamber. I wanted to get a better look at the infamous Chamber of Secrets, but Harry was pushing me along. I nodded to him thankfully as Ginny continued to wail.

"Ginny, you're not going to be expelled." I said, grinning through the pain.

Harry helped me through the the strange doors and over the basilisk skin that was in the tunnel before the Chamber.

I swore at the sight of the skin and Harry nodded solemnly as we started to hear shifting rocks.

"Ron!" Harry shouted, speeding up his pace. "Ginny's okay! I've got her!"

Ron gave a strangled cheer and I followed as Harry and Ginny reached the bend first. There was a cave in and Ron was poking his head through a gap he had made.

 _"Ginny!"_ Ron reached for Ginny and pulled her through.

I watched through the gap as they hugged each other.

"I don't believe it! What happened? Cassie! You're alive too!" Ron tried reaching through the gap for me.

"I can't get through that, it needs to be slightly bigger." I stepped away from Ron's hand, showing him my shoulder.

"Oh! Harry come over and help me." Ron pulled out of the gap and gestured for Harry.

Harry looked at me and I gave him a nod.

"How come you've got a _sword_?" Ron asked, finally seeing it.

"I'll explain when we get out of here." Harry said from the other side of the wall.

Fawkes landed on a rock and cooed at me.

"I know." I said to the phoenix.

Harry and Ron worked quickly to make a slightly bigger hole that I was able to maneuver myself, painfully, through. Fawkes flew in right behind me.

"Where did that bird come from?" Ron asked once I was standing on my feet and breathing as normally as I could.

"He's Dumbledore's. Where's Lockhart?" Harry answered.

"Back there." Ron jerked his head farther up the tunnel. "He's in a bad way. Come and see."

"You brought Lockhart?" I asked as Harry walked next to him.

"Long story." Harry sighed as Fawkes lead the way up the tunnel.

I tripped and it jerked my arm so I took a moment to breath through my nose and out of my mouth slowly to ease it as much as I could.

"Take your time." Harry placed his hand gently on my left shoulder.

I nodded as we walked after Ron and Ginny.

At the mouth of a giant pipe, was Gilderoy Lockhart, humming placidly to himself.

"His memory's gone. The Memory Charm backfired. Hit him instead of us. Hasn't got a clue who he his, or who we are. I told him to come and wait here. He's a danger to himself." Ron explained.

"Hello." Lockhart greeted pleasantly. "Odd sort of place, this, isn't it? Do you live here?"

"No." Ron answered, raising his eyebrows at Harry.

Harry ignored Lockhart and looked up the pipe.

"Have you though how we're going to get back up this?" Harry asked Ron.

"Fawkes." I answered as the phoenix fluttered to the front of us.

He waved his golden tail feathers to Harry.

"He looks like he wants you to grab hold…" Ron pulled Ginny to him and threw an arm around her shoulder. "But you're much too heavy for a bird to pull up there -"

"Fawkes -" Harry looked back at me.

"Is not an ordinary bird." I finished.

"We've got to hold on to each other. Ginny, grab Ron's hand. Professor Lockhart -"

"He means you." Ron said sharply to the man.

"You hold Ginny's other hand -" Harry then lead me over to Fawkes.

"Fawkes, can you carry Cassie?" Harry asked.

Fawkes landed on my good shoulder and I felt his talons grip my cloak and pull up.

"I'm going to hold on to you." Harry wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me into his chest.

I inhaled sharply through my nose at the pressure from the other side but I nodded to him.

"Okay Fawkes." I said to the phoenix.

I felt light. The pressure on my shoulder released and Fawkes flew through the pipe.

"Amazing! Amazing! This is just like magic!" Lockhart was saying from below us.

The ride was short, thankfully. Fawkes was pulling us up through an opening in the ceiling and we landed in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

Once Lockhart was standing by himself, the sink that hid the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was sliding back into place.

"You're alive." Myrtle said blankly to Harry from behind me.

"There's no need to sound so disappointed." Harry answered grimly as he wiped his glasses clean.

Fawkes landed on the top of a stall and cooed at me.

"I need to go to the hospital wing." I said, walking through the bathroom door.

I didn't hear what Myrtle had said, but I chuckled at Ron's comment as he came out of the bathroom.

"Urgh! Harry! I think Myrtle's grown fond of you! You've got competition, Ginny!"

I shook my head and bumped into Ginny. She still had tears flooding down her face.

"Where now?" Ron asked, looking anxiously at Ginny.

"After Fawkes, I guess." I sighed as I lead the way after the glowing bird.

Line Break/New chapter.

Fawkes lead us to McGonagall's office. Harry knocked and pushed the door was just a moment of silence.

 _"Ginny!"_ Mr and Mrs. Weasley were in the office.

They flung themselves Ginny. Harry pulled me out of the way just in time.

"Cassie!" Charlotte was cupping my face and pulling me into a hug.

"Charlotte!" I said mostly in surprise.

"What happened to you, dear?" Mrs. Weasley had cupped my face as well when she saw my shoulder.

"I believe, Miss Zwart needs to go to the hospital wing." Dumbledore's voice spoke from the fireplace.

I looked up at him and he conjured up a stretcher with a wave of his wand. I happily collapsed on it.

"It isn't her fault." I said as Charlotte walked with me out of the office and to the hospital wing.

Laying down, getting the pain off my shoulder was a relief.

"What happened?" Charlotte asked again.

"I don't remember." I answered before allowing the darkness to take me.

* * *

Harry was telling everyone in the room what happened. Starting from hearing the disembodied voice, adding how Hermione had figured out Harry was hearing a basilisk in the pipes; how he, Ron, and Cassie had followed the spiders into the forest, what Aragog had told them. How Harry guessed the Moaning Myrtle had been the victim from fifty years ago, and that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was in her bathroom… It took a quarter of an hour.

"Very well." McGonagall sniffed when he paused. "So you found out where the entrance was - breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way - but how on _earth_ did you all get out of there alive, Potter?"

So Harry went into another explanation. How Fawkes had arrived just in time with the Sorting Hat and the sword. But faltered. He had so far avoided mentioning Riddle's Diary, and Ginny and Cassie's part in it.

"What interests _me_ most," Dumbledore said gently, seeing Harry's dilemma. "Is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, and take Cassie, when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania."

"W-what's that?" Mr. Weasley asked in a stunned voice. " _You-Know-Who?_ En-enchant _Ginny?_ But Ginny's not...Ginny hasn't been…has she?"

"It was this diary." Harry picked up the diary quickly. "Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen…"

Dumbledore took the diary and inspected it closely.

"Brilliant. Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen." Dumbledore turned to the Weasleys who were looking bewildered.

"Very few people knew that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school...traveled far and wide...sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."

"But, Ginny," Mrs. Weasley pulled Ginny closer to her. "What's our Ginny got to do with - with - _him?_ "

"His d-diary!" Ginny finally spoke. "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been w-writing back all year-"

" _Ginny!_ Haven't I taught you _anything?_ What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if _you can't see where it keeps its brain?_ Why didn't you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was _clearly_ full of Dark Magic-"

"I d-didn't know," Ginny sobbed out. "I found it inside one of the books Mum got me. I th-thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it-"

"How did Cassie find out about it?" Mrs. Weasley spoke up, looking at the diary in concern.

"We don't know." Ron answered shaking his head.

"She-she knew it was bad. She _sensed_ it-" Ginny took a breath. "Cassie told me to get rid of it and I tried. B-but I couldn't. And because of me Tom found out about her and told Cassie he would hurt me if she didn't do what he said."

"So that's how she ended up in the Chamber." Dumbledore nodded, giving Harry a knowing look.

"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away." Dumbledore said firmly. "This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort."

Dumbledore walked over to the door and opened it.

"Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up." He added, twinkling kindly to Ginny. "You will find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice - I daresay the basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment."

"So Hermione's okay!" Ron perked up brightly.

"There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny." Dumbledore said softly to Ginny.

Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, Mr. Weasley followed. He was deeply shaken.

"You know, Minerva." Dumbledore turned to McGonagall. "I think all this merits a good _feast._ Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?"

"Right." McGonagall nodded crisply, also walking to the door. "I'll leave you to deal with Potter and Weasley, shall I?"

"Certainly." Dumbledore nodded.

Harry and Ron shared a gaze with each other before looking uneasily to Dumbledore.

"I seem to remember telling you both that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules." Dumbledore had a twinkle in his blue eyes.

Ron opened his mouth to retort.

"Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words." Dumbledore went on, smiling. "You two - and Cassie - will receive Special Awards for Services to the School - and let me see - yes, I think two hundred points apiece for you two for Gryffindor."

Ron turned pink and closed his mouth.

"But one of us seems to be keeping mightily quiet about his part in this dangerous adventure. Why so modest, Gilderoy?" Dumbledore turned to the memoryless man.

Harry blinked then looked behind him. He had completely forgotten about Lockhart!

"Professor Dumbledore," Ron said quickly, "there was an accident down in the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Lockhart-"

"Am I a professor?" Lockhart asked in mild surprise. "Goodness. I expect I was hopeless, was I?"

"He tried to do a Memory Charm and the wand backfired." Ron explained quietly to Dumbledore.

"Dear me." Dumbledore shook his head. "Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!"

"Sword?" Lockhart said dimly. "Haven't got a sword. That boy has, though." Lockhart pointed at Harry. "He'll lend you one."

"Would you mind taking Professor Lockhart up to the infirmary, too?" Dumbledore turned to Ron. "I'd like a few more words with Harry… And I'm sure you'd like to be with your family."

Lockhart ambled out of the office. Ron cast a curious look to Dumbledore and then Harry before closing the door.

* * *

There was a burning sensation on my skin and I opened my eyes.

Madam Promfrey was patting a rag soaked in a foul smelling liquid onto my wound and Charlotte was holding my hand. I gave it a squeeze and clenched my jaw.

"What did you get into this time?" Madam Promfrey asked.

"I was stabbed." I answered, trying to shrug.

"Yes but by what?" Madam Promfrey asked with exasperation.

"I honestly don't know." I sighed by the cool relief as my skin started to put itself back together.

"You never got into this much trouble when you were at home." Charlotte squeezed my hand.

"I didn't have friends who had trouble find them." I retorted, turning my head to see Madam Promfrey pouring a different liquid into Penelope Clearwater's mouth.

"Harry Potter." Charlotte nodded.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to worry you." I squeezed Charlotte's hand as Madam Promfrey turned to Hermione.

"I know you don't mean too." Charlotte sighed.

"Who's watching the others?" I turned to Charlotte.

"A friend, her name is Arabella Figg. I do need to get back before the children wake up." Charlotte squeezed my hand and stood up.

"I'll write to you as soon as I can." I promised.

"I will hold you to it. Do try to stay out of more trouble for the rest of the year." Charlotte patted my good shoulder.

"I'll try." I smiled weakly.

Charlotte nodded and left the Hospital Wing. The Weasley's walked in.

Ginny saw where I was laying and walked over to the bed next to me.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, sitting down and looking at me.

"Tired, and extremely hungry." I smiled to her.

"Cassie-" Ginny started to tear up.

"Don't." I shook my head. "I would do it all over again."

Ginny paused and nodded as Mrs. Weasley settled herself between the two of us.

"Cassie, dear." Mrs. Weasley choked on her words as she started to cry.

"I know." I slid my hand to hers and smiled to Mr. Weasley.

"Zwart needs rest. Take this, it will help you sleep." Madam Promfrey came back with a potion that will help me sleep.

"Please. Can I have something to eat? I don't know how long I was gone." I asked as my stomach grumbled.

"Oh dear! I will fetch you something from the kitchens. But please do drink this." Madam Promfrey helped me sit up and I noticed that my cloak wasn't on my body anymore.

Charlotte must have changed me when I was unconscious. I had a buttoned shirt that was open enough to show my wound but kept me modest. I also had on pajama pants.

"Thank you, Madam." I sighed once the warm liquid was in my stomach.

"Of course." Madam Promfrey patted my head.

I looked up to the ceiling. I felt someone holding my hand and I was in darkness again.

* * *

 **I want to apologize now, I am taking a trip this weekend to see some friends and their newborn baby! So I will not be taking my laptop with me so I won't be able to update on Sunday. I'm packing today and tomorrow, and will be too busy Friday to post it. Saturday through Monday I will be in a different state and enjoying my friends company. I will be going back to the regular posting schedule on May 31st!**

 **Shout out to katie owl and afkz94 for your reviews!**

 **Shout out to nshaikh281 for adding this story, and the Treasured Philosopher's Stone , to your favorites and following them!**

 **You guys are the best!**


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"What happened to Cassie?" A familiar voice said over my head.

I opened my eyes and my stomach rumbled.

" 'Mione!" I said happily.

"Cas!" Hermione was holding my hand.

I looked around and saw that the Weasley's, along with Ginny were gone. All the Petrified victims were either awake or no longer in the room.

"Hermione, we figured it out." I tried to sit up but grimaced.

"Don't move!" Madam Promfrey was gently pushing me down.

She had a roll of bandages in her hand. She had wrapped my wound up.

"Please Madam Promfrey, can't she go to the feast?" Hermione asked.

"Absolutely not! She needs to rest!" Madam Promfrey had a tray of food on the table next to me.

"It's okay, go and see Harry and Ron." I squeezed Hermione's hand and gave her a wink.

She scrunched her eyebrows together and then rolled her eyes with a knowing smile.

"Okay. But I'll be back." She squeezed my hand back and left the hospital wing.

"I gave you a small amount of a sleeping drought so that you could wake up and eat something." Madam Promfrey explained as she helped me sit up.

"Thank you." I nodded as she placed the tray over my legs.

I did eat what was on the tray. There were a couple of sandwiches and apple slices. I had a hard time moving my right arm but I think she foresaw that.

Madam Promfrey left only when I had eaten some of the sandwiches. I waited until she was in her office before sliding the tray down the bed with my good arm. I got out of bed and waited until I wasn't fuzzy headed before tip toeing out of the hospital wing.

"Of course, _you_ would sneak out of the hospital wing." Hermione was quick to put my left arm around her shoulders and helped me walk to the Great Hall.

"There's something I have to do." I smiled.

"And what's that?" Hermione asked.

"Hermione, I was in the diary for a few days. I don't know how long exactly. But I thought I was going to be there forever." I answered.

The Great Hall was still awake. The feast was still taking place and the clock on the wall said it was almost two in the morning.

"Oh my goodness." She gasped.

I only nodded as we entered the Great Hall.

All the Petrified victims were sitting at their respective tables. I saw Harry and Ron were sitting together. They had cleaned up for the feast.

Ginny was happily eating next to Percy. Percy kept checking the Ravenclaw table and Penelope Clearwater would look back at him.

"Percy's got a girlfriend." I said under my breath.

"Zwart!" A voice from the Hufflepuff table shouted.

Cedric has stood up and was hurrying over to us.

"Diggory!" I smiled at him as Hermione took my arm off her shoulder.

He didn't say anything as he hugged me gently. I hugged him back.

"I'm so glad-" He cleared his throat.

"I am too." I nodded.

I looked down the Gryffindor table. Hermione had ran off ahead and Dumbledore was smiling from the teachers table. I gave him a nod and he raised his goblet to me.

"I need George." I said to Cedric.

Harry and Ron were happy to see Hermione. She had pointed me out to them. George and Fred were sitting next to Ginny and when they saw Hermione point to the front of the Hall, naturally they looked.

George was the first to react. He got out of his seat and was trying to keep an even pace but started to run.

"Here he comes." Cedric gave me one last little hug and pulled away just in time.

George reached me. He put his hands out and cupped my face.

"Cassie-" His eyes were red and his cheeks were blotchy with redness.

He looked like he was crying earlier.

"Kiss me." I looked up at him.

He didn't need to be told twice.

His lips were on mine and there was an explosion in my chest. I had raised my hands to grab his elbows, his hands were still cupping my cheeks and he pressed his lips harder against mine.

He finally pulled away and kissed my forehead. I smiled up at him and there was a tutting sound behind me.

" _That's_ why you snuck out of the Hospital Wing?" Madam Promfrey had followed me.

Dumbledore was watching and he was laughing. He had gestured to McGonagall who was shaking her head but she was also smiling a rare smile.

"In my defense, I thought I was going to die." I said as George laughed, but his grip tightened just slightly on my good shoulder.

It was hard to get George to let go but Madam Promfrey had taken me back to the hospital wing where I finished eating and got some more well deserved rest.

* * *

The next morning I woke up to Dumbledore flipping through a… Muggle magazine?

"Professor?" I asked, slowly sitting up.

"Good morning Miss Zwart." Dumbledore set down his magazine and helped me sit up.

"Thank you." I nodded once I was up against the pillows.

"How are you sleeping?" He asked, sitting back down in his chair.

"A lot better now that Gertrude isn't screaming in my head." I answered.

"I'm glad to hear that Cassie." Dumbledore smiled kindly at me.

"You're not here to talk about my ability to sleep." I smiled to him.

"You're right." He nodded, his smile staying there but his face grew sympathetic.

"What would you like to know?" I asked.

"Why?" Was all he asked.

I took a second to think about my answer.

"Ginny wasn't herself. And I… I had a bad feeling about that diary. I didn't have any proof that the diary was _bad_. But I didn't trust it. And she couldn't tell me what was happening, Tom's spirit was preventing her from doing so." I started slowly.

He nodded for me to continue.

"And, the night we followed the spiders was the night Ginny told me Tom was ready to meet me. So when we got back I wrote in the diary. And I made the deal with Tom." I closed my eyes to remember that moment.

"He invited me to come into the diary and I knew - _I knew_ \- it was a trap. But he said that he would hurt Ginny if I didn't do what he said. So I tried to get around it; I asked him if I would be able to leave." I took a breath.

"When he didn't respond I asked if I would be able to get out if any harm came to the diary. He wrote, _'If any harms come to the Diary of Tom Marvolo Riddle, you, Cassie Zwart, shall be released.'_ And I agreed to his terms. It wasn't until I was inside with him that I realized I should have told someone." I shrugged sheepishly.

I hissed at the sudden pain from the shrugging.

"Are you alright?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yeah, my shoulder." I gestured to it.

"Would you like something to dull the pain?" He asked.

"I'm alright." I shook my head.

"Okay. Cassie, what happened when you were in that diary?" Dumbledore asked softly.

I looked away from him. What did happen while I was in there?

"I… I was mostly moping. But I did get to talk to him. Professor… He said he was a horcrux?" I looked up at him.

As soon as I said it, his entire demeanor changed. Not in a physical way, but I could tell something shifted in the air.

"Oh. I see." He nodded gravely.

"Professor… just from being in that diary and talking to that piece of Tom… Was… Was that piece of Tom's soul?" I asked.

Dumbledore took a minute to think of his answer as well.

"That is a difficult question. And more difficult to answer." He finally answered.

Madam Promfrey came out with a tray and it had some pieces of french toast, bacon, and scrambled eggs. There was a goblet holding some orange juice instead of the usual pumpkin juice. I nodded my thanks as she placed it on my lap.

"Piece of bacon?" I offered a piece to my Headmaster.

"Why thank you." He chuckled as he took it.

I nodded as we both ate in silence.

"I would do it all over again." I said after I had taken a drink of the orange juice.

"Do what?" He asked, looking at me over his half-moon spectacles.

"Last year, almost walking through fire to get to Harry. This year, sacrifice myself to save Ginny. Next year, I'd dive into the lake for Hermione, and go up against the Whomping Willow to get Ron. Whatever is endangering my friends, I will always be there to help them." I said.

"Those are specific occurrences you have predicted there." Dumbledore said.

"Yes they are. Again, I would do anything if it means protecting my friends." I said solemnly.

"I know you will." Dumbledore nodded.

I ate the rest of my breakfast in silence. Madam Promfrey came and removed my tray.

"I believe you are rested enough to go to class today." Dumbledore stood up and pointed to my school uniform that was on the table next to me.

"Am I?" I looked up at Madam Promfrey.

She sniffed, "I suppose you are. You will have to take it easy for the next couple of weeks." She said as she set up the curtains for me.

"Thank you." I said as I got dressed.

I was grateful that the pajama shirts and the uniform shirts were button ups. I don't think I could have put on a shirt over my head with my arm acting the way it was.

 _'I need to learn how to not cause harm to my body.'_ I grimaced to myself as I managed to button my skirt up.

I pulled back the curtain, and wasn't surprised to see the Dumbledore had left.

"I believe you have Herbology today." Madam Promfrey said, walking me out of the hospital wing.

"Thank you, Madam." I smiled gratefully up to her.

She nodded to me as I began my lonely walk down to the greenhouse. There was only a week left of school and exams had been cancelled thanks to Harry and Ron.

I made sure to keep my left arm against a wall. There were so many students heading towards class after breakfast.

"Cassie!" A voice called out from behind me.

I looked back and smiled brightly.

"George!" I called out.

I waited for him and Fred who both hurried over.

"How are you feeling?" Fred asked hugging me first.

"Sore." I responded sheepishly.

George hugged me next and we both held onto each other.

"Where are you headed?" George asked as we pulled away.

I laced my fingers through his, "Herbology."

"We'll walk you." Fred was gentle in his push to get me between them.

"Thank you." I smiled as they walked me down the marble staircase.

"Princess, how did you end up down there?" George asked.

I didn't answer for a second. Do I tell them what happened?

"If you're not ready to talk about it we understand." Fred added as we left the Entrance Hall.

"It's not that I'm not ready. I honestly don't know how I ended up there." I forced myself not to shrug my shoulders.

It was half a lie. I did know how I ended up down there, but I didn't know how I got down there.

"It's okay. Just… just don't scare me like that again." George had brought our hands up and kissed my knuckles.

"I can't make that promise. Trouble seems to find me." I sighed as we reached the greenhouses.

"Cassie!" Harry had spotted me.

"Thank you." I tilted my chin towards George.

George bent down his cheek so that I could kiss it, but I put my hand under his chin and turned his face. I kissed his lips and he pulled back with a smile.

"I enjoy doing that." He whispered.

"Me too." I said, but not as quietly.

I turned to Harry who escorted me inside the greenhouse with a sly grin and raising his eyebrows in a teasing way.

"Oh shut up!" I laughed.

* * *

The rest of the week past in a blur. Defense Against the Dark Arts classes were cancelled because of Lockhart's lack of memory. And there was no point in finding a replacement so close to end of the school year. Barnabas was sitting on my nightstand with Hedwig sitting on the top of the bedpost.

I had reread my mother's second letter to me and I saw Remus Lupin's name in it. And even though she told me not to write to him, I couldn't help but reach out to this man that she mentioned.

 _'Remus Lupin,_

 _My name is Cassie Zwart, my mother was Karen Zwart. I recently received a letter from her in my vault. She enchanted it to give me letters. And you were mentioned in it. She told me not to reach out to you, but I don't know a whole lot about her or her past. And I was hoping that you would be willing to meet up somewhere in London? Maybe for tea? Please?_

 _Cassie'_

"That sounds utterly pathetic but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to put it in better words." I said to Barnabas.

He hooted at me and stuck his leg out for the letter.

"Let it dry for a second." I scratched his belly.

He fluffed up his feathers indignitaly for a second before starting to preen his feathers down.

"Hedwig, I'll let Harry know you've gone with Barnabas." I told the snowy owl who fluttered down to land on my shoulder.

She cooed and nibbled on my ear. I giggled from the ticklish feeling I got from her beak. I rolled up my piece of parchment and carefully tied it onto Barnabas' leg.

"Fly safe." I let Barnabas hop on my arm and opened a window to release the owls into the air.

I watched them become small spots on horizon before turning around and finishing up packing.

"Cassie?" Hermione poked her head into the dormitory.

"Hermione." I said, covering up another attempt at a letter to my father.

"You almost ready?" She asked, looking at my almost packed trunk.

"Just about." I nodded, throwing the last of my parchment, quills, and ink bottles into the trunk and closing it.

Hermione sniffed at the careless way I threw the school supplies.

"Let's go, we should get a good compartment before they all fill up." I said, dragging my trunk.

I dragged it out of the dormitory before slapping my forehead.

"What?" Hermione asked.

I pulled out my wand from my pocket and smiled at my best friend.

 _"Wingardium Leviosa!"_ I swished my wrist at my trunk.

It started to float down the staircase and Hermione actually smiled at the use of my magic. We walked down the stairs to see all the rest of Gryffindor attempting to finish last minute packing. Hermione linked her arm with me and I could feel her eyeing my newest scar hiding under my shirt.

"It's still not healed." I said to her.

"Why do you keep putting yourself in these situations?" She blurted out.

"I don't _mean_ to. It just happens to be me." I defended myself.

"I know. I know you're not at fault here," Hermione shook her head. "I just can't understand how, or why."

"I don't either, 'Mione. But you gotta understand. I would do it again for you, and for Ron as well." I said as we walked down the staircases to the Entrance Hall.

Ariel was trotting along after us.

"I know." She sighed.

"Hey, it'll be okay. I promise to not physically scar myself next year." I held my hand up.

"Don't make a promise you can't keep." Hermione rolled her eyes as I loaded my trunk into a horseless carriage and picked up Ariel.

"It's not a promise, I'm not going to get a scar next year." I said as I sat down and the carriage started to roll.

"And how do you know that?" Hermione asked, squinting her eyes suspiciously.

"I just do." I winked.

* * *

The Weasley's, Harry, Hermione, and I had managed to get a compartment to ourselves. I had told Harry that Hedwig had flown off with Barnabas to deliver what I had written to a friend of my moms.

"Who's your moms friend?" Ron asked.

"A man named Remus Lupin. I read about him in a letter my mom gave me in my vault." I explained.

It couldn't hurt to tell them about it.

"Are you sure you should have written to him?" George was leaning against my legs as he was sitting on the floor.

"I just tried to make contact, if he wants to meet me he knows to send an owl." I patted his shoulder.

He grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze as Ginny placed a card in their Exploding Snap game.

"What are your plans for this summer?" I asked Harry as we neared King's Cross.

"Survive the Dursley's." He didn't even stop to think.

"Good luck." I chuckled.

Harry laughed as well and then he turned to Ginny.

"Ginny - what did you see Percy doing, that he didn't want you to tell anyone?" Harry asked.

"Oh, that." Ginny started to giggle. "Well - Percy's got a _girlfriend_."

Fred dropped a stack of books on George's head. I had to cover my mouth to keep from barking out a laugh.

 _"What?"_

"It's that Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater." Ginny explained. "That's who he was writing to all last summer. He's been meeting her all over the school in secret. I walked in on them _kissing_ in an empty classroom one day. He was so upset when she was - you know - attacked. You won't tease him, will you?" She asked anxiously when she saw George and Fred share a look.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Fred shook his head slowly.

"Definitely not." George sniggered as I squeezed his shoulder.

The Hogwarts Express started to slow down and George stood up and stretched his arms over his head. He turned around and held a hand to help me up from my seat.

There was a scribbling from Harry writing on a parchment and ripping it into three pieces. He explained what a telephone number was to Ron.

"Write over the summer." George said as I carried Ariel's carrier.

Fred was helping George carry their trunks, and mine. I had told them I could do it but George insisted he do it.

"Of course I will." I smiled at him.

We managed to get our trunks off the train and out of the magical barrier. We shared another quick hug and he placed a kiss on my forehead. His mother was watching and we weren't sure how she would react to us kissing. I gave him one last hug before taking Harry's phone number.

I looked around the train station and didn't see Charlotte.

"Mrs. Weasley, the Knight Bus, will it still come during the day?" I asked Mrs. Weasley who looked around the station as well.

"I don't think you should take it…" She said.

"I've taken it before. My first time coming to Hogwarts, Stephanie stuck her wand out and it showed up." I said as we walked out the station.

"How about we give you a ride?" Mr. Weasley asked as he gestured to the line of Ministry of Magic cars.

"I couldn't ask that-" I was shaking my head.

"Cassie!" A familiar voice called.

I turned around and Charlotte was getting out of a cab.

"There's Charlotte. Thank you Mrs. Weasley." I gave her a quick hug.

She hugged me back.

I gave Harry one last hug, "I'll send Hedwig with some food if she comes back with Barnabas." I said in his ear.

"Thank you." He answered and hug me back.

I smiled and waved to rest of my friends and I walked over to Charlotte.

"Hello dear." Charlotte hugged me as she waved to Mrs. Weasley.

"Hello! You are not going to really believe what happened!" I said as we climbed into the cab.

I told her a watered down version of what happened this year. She gasped in all the right spots and laughed where I wanted her too.

I knew next year wasn't going to be a quiet year. So far, none of them have been. And it was my second year of being in the wizarding world. But I was willing to take on any random shots my new magical life decided to throw at me.

The End

* * *

 **And that concludes Book Two! Every single one of you have been amazing! I'm not sure how long my hiatus is going to be, my boyfriend and I are moving to a different town for his new career. And I'm going to be busy moving us and finding a new job in this town we're going too. Please do bear with me as I may not be posting again until sometime past June. You guys have the best and I hope you'll wait for the next installment!**

 **Shout out to afkz94 for leaving a review!**

 **katie owl: It looks like just this last chapter. It ended a lot sooner than I was expecting!**

 **Shout out to for favoriting the first story!**

 **Shout out to samierocker , and emilyh13 for following this story!**

 **Shout out to emilyh13 for following me, and for favoriting the first story!**

 **It has also come to my attention that some of my chapters in both the first and the second stories that I am missing some dialogue in certain chapters. I will be reviewing those when I get the chance and hopefully I can fix them. If not I just may need to figure something out. I am so sorry to those who had wanted to read on but couldn't! And to those who pushed through thank you so much!**

 **You'll be seeing Cassie and her friends in the third books, The Treasured Prisoner of Azkaban!**


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